Five Chances
by xxxdolphinmelodyxxx
Summary: AU. Convinced that the universe hates him, the Doctor begins to loose faith in life. However, the universe has something to say about that, namely Clara Oswin Oswald. Through this mystery, the ice around his hearts begins to melt but that's risky as once he's let Clara in, the pain of loosing her comes back to haunt him. Is the love of a woman worth all the pain? Let's find out...
1. Prologue

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_Altered and then gone._

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_That was **number one…**_

_**. . . . .**_

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_Falling from the blue_

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_That was **number two…**_

_**. . . . .**_

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_Killed by what I see._

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_That was **number three…**_

_**. . . . .**_

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_Hot and red and raw._

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_That was **number four…**_

_**. . . . .**_

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_Dead but still alive._

Tick Tock, lost in the dark,

_That was **number five…**_


	2. 1x1 - Starship Alaska

Chapter 1: Starship Alaska

The Entertainment Deck of the Interstellar Starship Alaska was vaguely similar to the vessel her father used to command, the Starship Hammersmith, when she was a child. The room she was currently in, the main entertainment hall, had been set up and was raring to go, ready for the celebrations which were due to commence in a week's time. Their first group of passengers were waiting on a planet in another system a few days away so until then all they could do was wait.

She couldn't deny it, she was really excited. All her life she had dreamt of seeing the stars, that was the reason she had joined the Alaska in the first place. 'Junior Entertainment Manager'… if she was honest she would have preferred to actually be a member of the crew but as she had dropped out of the Space Academy the year before, she hadn't actually gained her qualifications. However, 'Junior Entertainment Manager' had a nice ring to it so she really wasn't that bothered. Space had always been her one true love so to be able to have a job where she got to travel amongst it made her ultimately content.

"All hands, this is Captain Jefferson." the voice of the ship's Captain hailed over the inter-ship communication system, "We are breaking orbit. Please make sure your sections are secure. Jefferson out."

Another member of the Entertainment staff and her close friend Louise Pettigrew quickly did as the Captain ordered.

During that time, she turned to look out of the window on her left. Her lips curled into a small smile as she gazed down at the planet below. Although the majority of it was covered by large weather systems, her home country of England being beaten with a severe tropical storm, she smiled at the sight. Seeing the Earth from orbit had always been her favourite sight… 'The green and blue marble of the Solar System', that's what her father used to call it.

The Alaska shuddered as it broke away from the Earth's gravity, causing the coffee in the cup she was holding to ripple. Subconsciously, she placed her other hand over the rim until the shuddering ceased and the ship began its journey out of the Solar System. She kept her eyes locked on her beloved planet and took a sip of her coffee.

It was her first journey away from home… she was allowed to have mixed feelings about leaving, wasn't she?

Louise soon noticed her gaze and smiled slightly as she watched the Earth slowly decrease in size.

"Oswin?" she queried.

Jumping slightly, Oswin turned to face her friend and smiled softly as she brushed her hand through her hair.

"Sorry." she whispered, "It is my first time after all."

Louise nodded in agreement and smiled slightly. Ever since meeting Oswin when they both attended the Space Academy the year before, she knew how much a life in space meant to her.

Oswin turned back to look out the window which only increased Louise's smile. She loved seeing her friend happy, especially after all the problems she had experienced over the last year. Not only had she lost her place in the Academy after missing her exams when she returned home to London when her mother took ill, she had also lost her father through a Dalek attack in Massachusetts a few months beforehand. Despite the fact that she had been there at the time, she luckily survived along with a group of seven young children as the US Airforce managed to send the brutal creatures on their way. Louise knew for a fact that that incident had really affected her but if anything, it had only increased her determined to venture out into space and follow in her father's footsteps.

Louise casually stood next to her friend and the pair of them began looking out at the Earth as they passed the little red planet, more commonly known as Mars, and approached Jupiter.

"Beautiful sight ain't it?" Louise attempted to confirm.

Oswin nodded a little. "Absolutely." she replied, "This is what I've always wanted to see…"

Louise smiled and turned her attention to Mars which currently had four satellite stations orbiting it.

"It's hard to believe that's been colonised for five years now." she stated, referring to Mars.

Oswin shrugged her shoulders once she had turned to look at it.

"Well, ever since the Bowie Base One disaster a few centuries ago, I'm surprised they colonised it at all." she said.

Louise rolled her eyes. "They don't use the water from the Ice Field, Oz." she reminded her.

"Yeah, but it's still there." Oswin pointed out, "All it would take is one contaminant… then with the amount of transport to Earth from Mars, who knows what could happen."

"Oz, you're looking to deep into it." Louise warned, "Scientists have confirmed that the microbes are dormant, nothings gonna happen. Besides, there's much worse out there than flipping Martian Water Alien microbes."

Oswin immediately turned to face her friend. At 5ft 2in, she wasn't the tallest person around yet she was noticeably taller than Louise who was lucky to reach the 5ft marker.

"Like what exactly?" Oswin quizzed.

Louise kept her gazed fixed on the planets outside, trying not to turn and face her friend's stare.

"Aliens…" she answered.

She could feel Oswin's eyes burning at her skin. She knew that she knew she was thinking about the Daleks. For years she had constantly made the mistake of mentioning things she knew she shouldn't at the wrong times and unfortunately for her, Oswin certainly knew that.

"Which _aliens?_" she interrogated, "The Daleks? Are they what you're thinking of?!"

Louise sighed. "Oswin…" she trailed off.

Oswin sighed and swiftly looked away. Although she was usually a rather easy person to get along with, she had an awful temper when it came to the Daleks. Although she'd never admitted it to anyone, much more happened to her the day her father was killed and part of her would never forget it…

"No, I'm sorry." she whispered, "I always take it out on you, don't I?"

Louise smiled softly and placed her hand on Oswin's shoulder. Oswin smiled back at her before blinking several times in order to prevent herself from crying. It still hurt to think about her Dad and she was so thankful that Louise didn't take it personally, if she did, she would have lost her a long time ago…

"Maybe we should go to our quarters." suggested Louise, breaking the silence which had fallen upon them, "Get dressed up and then head down to the Mess Hall for dinner. Most of the crew will be there by now."

Oswin nodded before smiled down at her friend. "Good idea." she agreed, "I know for a fact Harvey still owes me that drink, and I'm sure I can talk him into getting you one too."

Louise giggled slightly and rolled her eyes. "And how you gonna do that?" she questioned.

Oswin's smile expanded and her eyebrow rose.

"Do you really need me to answer that one?" she queried with a hint of cheekiness leaking into her voice.

Louise laughed as they began to head out of the Entertainment Hall.

"What would I do without you?" she queried, "Getting me free drinks off the poor, unsuspecting crew members?"

Oswin winked as the left the hall and began walking down the corridor.

"Ain't that what friends are for?" she asked.

. . . . .

"Another one when you're ready, Harvey!" Oswin called over the collective gossip of her fellow shipmates.

They were all gathered around three tables at the edge of the Mess Hall, closest to the galley – and the bar. Harvey, one of the senior technicians onboard the ship, was easily the flirtiest man in their 'level' but even he was no match for Oswin when it came to teasing. However, that didn't stop him trying and giving the others a good show in the process.

"I've already got ya two." he pointed out while leaning back on the bar.

Oswin, who was sat next to Louise around one of the tables along with three other women, Carla, Jessie and Kaz, smiled playfully and shrugged her shoulders a little.

"Well, you can make it three." she told him, "Actually four, I promised Louise you'd get her one too… and I'm sure these three wouldn't object to one either."

Harvey rolled his eyes and turned to order the drinks before looking back over at her. The other women were all smiling and now looking over at Harvey as Oswin had clearly won that battle.

He shook his head and grinned over at them before retrieving the drinks and bringing them over on a silver tray.

"You, Miss Oswald," he began as he made his way over, "Will be the death of me."

Oswin shrugged her shoulders. "I'd be willing to take that chance as long as it gets me a free drink or two." she told him.

"Drinks or rounds?" he attempted to clarify as he took a seat opposite to her.

Oswin grinned as she retrieved her wine glass off the table and held it up.

"Cheers." she toasted.

"Cheers." the rest of them agreed before taking a sip of their drinks.

Harvey just rolled his eyes before joining in with the toast. Oswin's rosé wine glistened in the light as she held it in her hand and the colour intensified when she held it in front of her vibrant red dress.

Oswin put her glass back on the table a moment later and was about to continue with her conversation when she noticed her wine begin to ripple. She wasn't the only one who suddenly grew concerned and seconds later, the entire room began to shudder. The utensils in the galley began to rattle and the entire ship began to shake.

"What the hell?" asked Louise.

Oswin soon looked over at the bartender.

"Whatcha put in the wine Tommy?" she queried, making everyone smile momentarily.

However, it didn't last long as the shaking began to increase in intensity, making everybody begin to feel slightly dizzy as the ship violently began to toss them into each other.

Oswin's attention soon turned to the window as not that far from the ship's hull, she could see something forming. She couldn't explain exactly what it was but it looked vaguely similar to a tornado, only it was in space.

"What the hell is that?!" she cried.

Every person in that room turned and looked towards the anomaly which was rapidly growing in size. Their eyes all widened and they slowly began to clamber to their feet and away from the window, as if that would actually help.

"All hands, this is the Captain." Jefferson hailed over the comm. system, "Condition Red. Report to your duty stations immediately."

Everyone soon deserted the galley and began to do at the Captain ordered.

"What do we do?" Louise asked Oswin as the rest of the crew headed for their stations, "We're the Entertainment crew, we're not officers."

Oswin nodded in agreement. "We head to out quarters." she reminded her, "All civilian personnel must return to quarters in a Condition Red situation… It's for our own safety."

Louise nodded before the violence of the shuddering sent her into the wall. Oswin immediately helped her regain her balance, amazed she was actually managing to stay on her feet herself.

"You alright?" she asked Louise.

Louise nodded and continued along with her towards the crew quarters.

"I'm fine." she confirmed, "Come on!"


	3. 1x2 - A Ridiculous Miracle

Chapter 2: A Ridiculous Miracle

"Day 363: The terror continues."

She actually couldn't believe that she'd been there for almost an entire year now. When she joined the Alaska the year before, she certainly hadn't imagined being stuck in a shipwreck on her first time out. She'd joined that ship in order to see the stars, to see somewhere awesome, but where she was certainly didn't fit the bill…

"Also, made another soufflé, very nearly…"

That was all her usual day consisted of now. Then again, being stuck in the same tiny escape pod for a year, there wasn't much else she could do. She daren't go outside… no way was she going out there.

She had certainly adapted the place, mind you. Before, it had just been a standard escape pod, now it was her home. The consoles which used to be located in the centre of the room were now gathered up by the walls, most of them in pieces as she had used the components to create one 'super console'. Out of the four original chairs, only one remained now, the other three had been disassembled and recycled. Thanks to the emergency packs, she had a hammock which now acted as her bed, blankets, washing equipment, a microwave and a lot of power cells. She used those to power her replicator which gave her access to clean clothing, water and wood… that was used to block off the windows from the outside environment. Every few weeks she found herself hammering more and more planks over the windows, anything to keep her from seeing those _things _outside.

"Check defences."

That was certainly her most important job of the day. That place, wherever it was, was definitely the worst place imaginable to be stuck in. She would have actually preferred to be living in the pits of hell rather than where she was… that's why defences were so important. There was no way she would be a sitting target if those _things _somehow found their way to her in the future.

"They came again last night. Still always at night, maybe they're vampires."

Oh, didn't she wish. Vampires would have been pleasant compared to those creatures outside. Despite the fact that she had never actually seen one, she knew they were out there somewhere. Their metallic voices kind of gave them away…

Her stomach still tightened when she heard them. Two years, twenty years, it didn't matter… she'd never forgive them! Those creatures were the reason her Dad had died and she had ran, those creatures were the reason she had ended up stuck in that pod and not attempted to find the others, those creatures were the reason she would have given absolutely anything just to be rescued and taken home… What she wouldn't have given for a miracle… a ridiculous miracle would have been nice around then…

"Oh, and it's my Mum's birthday… Happy Birthday, Mum."

She couldn't deny it, she missed her mother terribly. She had felt so guilty the year before, leaving Earth the day after her mother's birthday, especially as she had missed the festivities as she had been travelling up to the Alaska on her actually birthday. She had been looking forward to returning home in time for her birthday that year but there she was, stuck in a shipwreck…

"I did make you a soufflé, but it was too beautiful to live." she continued to recite down her digital diary recorder.

Lying on the hammock, she smiled as she ended the entry and began to listen intensely to her music playing. The player was also something she had assembled herself. The majority of the components came from the left over parts of the original consoles.

"YOU WILL LET US ENTER!" the all-too-familiar metallic voices began from beyond the immediate outside area of the escape pod, "WE WILL ENTER! WE WILL ENTER!"

Oswin sighed loudly and leant over to turn up the volume of her music. Anything to block out their voices would help.

She covered her ears with her hands and focused solely on the music. She then let her thoughts return back to her friends on the Alaska. She hadn't seen them or heard from them in almost a year, ever since the original crash. Louise, Harvey… she still wondered what had happened to them… For all she knew they could have been rescued a long time ago. Then again, they could have been dead…

. . . . .

"_I don't like this!" Louise cried as the rattling continued to intensify._

_It was at a point now where even Oswin was beginning to worry. The stress on the hull must have been enormous and if she was completely honest; she was surprised the ship was still in one piece._

"_Miss Oswald." the Captain hailed, "Report to the Bridge immediately!"_

_Oswin swiftly looked up at the ceiling as he spoke since that's where his voice sounded as if it was coming from. She frowned slightly. Why did the Captain need her?_

"_You?" asked Louise in a small state of shock._

_Oswin shrugged her shoulders as she clambered off her bunk and fought against the intensity of the tremors._

"_I'll be back as soon as I can." she told her friend who was desperately clinging onto her bed._

_Louise nodded in understanding as Oswin ventured out of her quarters and in the direction of the Bridge. She passed many crew members who were clambering along the walls to wherever it was they needed to be._

_As Oswin approached the Bridge, she saw the ship's Commander holding the door open for her and supporting himself in the process._

"_Miss Oswald!" he shouted over the noise of many consoles sounding on the Bridge and the general clattering of the ship, "The Captain needs you now!"_

_Oswin swiftly glided through the door which the Commander proceeded to close behind her._

"_Captain?" she queried._

_Captain Jefferson was holding onto a rail while watching the space tornado anomaly approach the ship at a rather quickened pace. She briefly glanced around while the Captain fought against the forces in order to look at her. From what she could see, the pilot and co-pilot were dead after some sort of console overload, two junior officers were badly injured with massive burns on the left side of the Bridge and there were many broken conduits which resulted in debris being scattered all over the floor._

"_Miss Oswald!" the Captain cried over the racket, "I've seen your Academy reports… You're a qualified pilot, are you not?"_

_Oswin shook her head. "No, sir!" she responded, "I dropped out of the Academy before my examinations!"_

_Jefferson nodded in understanding. "But you completed all your training?" he queried._

_Oswin nodded. "Yes, sir." she answered._

_Jefferson smiled a little. "Can you fly a Starliner like this?" he questioned, referring to the Alaska and silently hoping for to say 'yes'._

_Oswin nodded once again. "Yes, sir." she responded, "But I'm not legally qualified!"_

_Jefferson shook his head. "We're desperate, Miss Oswald!" he exclaimed, "Take the helm!"_

_Oswin complied within moments and clambered down to the helm, careful not to trip over the lifeless bodies of the pilot and co-pilot. She gulped slightly as she took her seat which had once belonged to one of them. She could feel her heart beating at the back of her throat, they looked rather young, probably both in their mid-twenties, much too young to die._

"_Move us away from it!" the Captain ordered, referring to the anomaly hard to starboard._

_Oswin did as ordered, immediately slamming the manoeuvring thrusters into gear and attempting to move the ship away. The ride wasn't smooth and Oswin found it rather difficult as the thrusters were near enough destroyed._

_It didn't take her long to notice that the stress on the hull was reaching critical levels. They wouldn't be able to remain in flight much longer…_

"_Is there a problem, Miss Oswald?" the Captain asked when he saw her gulp at one particular reading._

"_We need to land the ship, sir." she told him._

"_What?!" he cried as he once again was shook by the tremors._

"_She's correct, sir." the Commander piped up as he read his console on the other side of the Bridge, "The hull's beginning to buckle!"_

_The Captain sighed and looked over another officer on the opposite side of the Bridge._

"_Suggestions?" he queried._

"_There's an M-Class planet bearing 156 mark 294." the officer reported._

_The Captain smiled softly. "I'll take it!" he exclaimed._

_By the time he said that, Oswin was already piloting the Alaska towards that planet. However, as they approached, she noticed there was a problem._

"_We can't land here!" she cried._

"_Explain!" demanded Jefferson._

"_There's some sort of force field…" she explained, "If the ship hits that, there won't be a ship left!"_

"_The hull's buckling!" the Commander cried._

_Oswin's eyes widened as the ship began to fall towards the planet as it was stuck in its gravity field._

"_Everybody hang on!" she cried._

_The Captain gripped onto his chair as the ship fell. He honestly didn't think the tremors could have gotten any worse, however, he was wrong._

"_I could do with some helpful suggestions any time now!" he cried as the planet, and the force field, got much closer on the viewscreen. _

_Oswin sighed. She had an idea… She knew it wasn't really her place but providing the Captain agreed, it would theoretically save everybody's lives._

"_Set the shields to a variance of 0.449…326…1127." she said aloud after working it out._

_The Captain frowned. "Miss Oswald?" he quizzed._

"_I don't have time to explain." she told him, "Please, just trust me."_

_The Commander's eyes widened slightly. "That would punch a hole through the force field, am I right?" he asked._

_Oswin nodded, still attempting to slow the Alaska's fall._

"_Yes, sir." she replied._

"_How did you work that out so quickly?" he asked._

"_It doesn't matter!" interrupted the Captain before turning back to Oswin, "The force of puncturing that hole would destroy the shield grid… and with the current vector of the ship's fall, it would break up in the atmosphere."_

"_I know." confirmed Oswin, "But it either breaks up during the decent or it's destroyed when it hits the force field. It's your call, Captain."_

_Jefferson gulped. That wasn't exactly how he expected his first command to be, a choice between two negatives…_

"_We could launch the escape pods." suggested the Commander, "Abandon ship and allow the ship to fall."_

_Oswin shook her head. "We're too close to the force field." she explained, "Even if the ship somehow survived hitting it, the escape pods certainly wouldn't… Captain!"_

_Jefferson nodded. "Mr. Parks." he stated, referring to the young officer, "Set the shields to a variance of…"_

"_0.4493261127." Oswin finished._

"_Aye, sir." acknowledged the young officer._

"_Commander, get the crew to the escape pods." he ordered._

_Both Oswin and the Commander frowned. "Sir?!" he cried._

"_As soon as the ship passes through the force field, the ship will begin to disintegrate." he said, "If the escape pods are launched then, the crew will be safe. Begin the evacuation."_

"_Aye, sir." acknowledged the Commander before taking everyone from the Bridge with him, barring the Captain and Oswin._

_Oswin turned to the Captain when he appeared at her side._

"_What about you, sir?" she asked._

_Jefferson sighed. "Captain's prerogative." he told her, "You go down with the ship… Once you've bounced through the force field, get to an escape pod. I'll take it from there."_

_Oswin nodded slowly. "Aye, sir." she agreed._

_It hadn't taken her long after that to bounce the ship through the force field. She then made her way to the escape pod and abandoned the ship while the Alaska continued to fall. It had only taken minutes after that to crash and destroy itself… the Captain along with it…_

She couldn't remember exactly what happened after that. She remembered being in the same escape pod as Louise and Harvey, but everything after that was just a blank…

. . . . .

It took her a few minutes to realise that the voices had stopped and once she had, she slowly stood up and stretched her arms before lowering the volume of her music player. She might have loved her opera music, but she didn't want it to make her deaf.

She ventured towards the back of the pod and was about to get a glass of water from the replicator when a voice echoed throughout the pod.

"_Hello? Hello? Carmen… Hello?" _a voice asked.

She immediately flicked her head around the corner and looked over at the console from which the voice was coming from.

"Hello?" she asked to herself, for a second believing it was just some sort of dream.

"_Come in. Come in. Come in, Carmen."_ the voice continued.

"Hello!" she cried, racing over to the console.

She couldn't help but smile. Finally, after all this time, was this the ridiculous miracle she had been waiting for?


	4. 1x3 - The Rescue Party

Chapter 3: The Rescue Party

"Yes! Yes, sorry." she continued to say to herself before she managed to activate the speaker, "Do you read me?"

"_Yes, reading you loud and clear." _the man confirmed,_ "Identify yourself and report your status."_

Oswin smiled properly for the first time in ages. However, she couldn't help but think that it was somehow a dream. Maybe all the murdered soufflés were getting to her head.

"Hello…" she repeated, "Are you real? Are you actually, properly real?"

She heard the man laughed slightly. _"Yep, confirmed." _he guaranteed,_ "Actually, properly real."_

Oswin grinned and sighed slightly before continuing.

"Oswin Oswald, Junior Entertainment Manager: Starship Alaska. Current status – crashed and shipwrecked somewhere… not nice." she told him, "Been here a year, rest of the crew missing. Provisions good but… keen to move on."

_"A year?!" _the man questioned in a minor state of disbelief,_ "Are you OK, are you… under attack?"_

Oswin sighed. "Some local life-forms." she answered before turned to face the boarded up window, "I've been keeping them out."

_"Do you know what those life-forms are?"_ the man asked her.

Oswin sighed once again. Of course she knew what those things were, how could she not…

"I know a _Dalek_ when I hear one, yeah." she confirmed.

_"What have you been doing, __**on your own**__**,** against the Daleks __**for a year?**__" _he asked her.

She considered it. Not much really…

"Making soufflés..." she told him, feeling a bit silly as she said it.

_"Soufflés?" _he attempted to confirm with a tiny giggle, _"Against the Daleks?"_

Oswin smiled slightly. She was about to continue but he managed to speak first.

"_Where'd you get the milk?"_ he quizzed.

Suddenly, the transmission began to become static, scrambling his voice and soon ending.

"No!" she cried as she futilely began to try to get it back, "Hello? Hello?"

After a moment it was clear that the man was certainly gone.

"Damn…" she moaned before flopping back into her chair.

. . . . .

After about ten minutes of complete silence, Oswin had had enough. She had hoped that the man would end up communicating with her again but that certainly wasn't the case.

She sighed before pulling the keyboard away from the console and onto her lap once she'd pulled her legs up onto the chair.

"Right…" she said to herself as she began to work.

She had absolutely no idea what she was looking for, just something out of the ordinary. The planet itself seemed normal. All the Daleks were registering like how they usually did; most of them were catatonic while others just drifted lazily over the planet's surface.

"Ooh… hello." she said aloud when her sensors picked up something which was certainly new.

Above the planet in the highest orbit possible was a vessel. At first she couldn't tell what design it was but it didn't take her long to find out.

Her eyes widened slightly. It was Dalek ship… were they sending in reinforcements? If they were, she was definitely in trouble. However, if that were the case, they'd have to deactivate the force field first and that could only be done internally. Maybe it wasn't going to be much of a problem after all.

She was just about to put the keyboard away when she detected something. She immediately began typing as fast as she could, her aim to see what was happening. At that moment, the ship above the planet emitted three beams which cut through the force field like butter. She would have been scared that new Daleks were entering if she hadn't of detected humanoid life signs.

Without second thought, she accessed dormant eye stalks on the planet surface near to where the beams had deposited the humanoids. She used the stalks to see one of them lying in the snow.

She smiled slightly as she brought the image up onto the screen. There on the screen, clearly a little dazed, was a man who definitely looked human. Apart from his attire, he looked rather good. His brown floppy hair was ruffled on the top of his head, getting soaked by the snow he was lay in. The dress sense seemed less appealing, a brown tweed jacket and blue bowtie, but no matter how strange it looked, she had to admit that he was somehow pulling it off.

It took him a few moments to register what he was seeing when he saw the eyestalk but once he had, he just started laughing to himself.

Oswin smiled and leant forward to flick a switch in order to activate the speaker. However, instead she was deafened by her music which suddenly activated.

"Sorry, sorry!" she apologised as she quickly changed it over, "Pressed the wrong switch."

The man frowned slightly as he raised his head. _"Soufflé girl?"_ he queried.

She raised her eyebrow slightly at his image on the screen.

"You could always call me Oswin, seeing as that's my name." she pointed out as he rolled over to get closer to the eyestalk, "You okay?"

She could see he was rather confused but she couldn't tell whether that was normal as she didn't know him or whether it was because he had just been dropped from orbit. Surely that would mess with your head…

"_How are you doing that, eh?"_ he queried as he began tapping on the lens, _"This is Dalek technology."_

Oswin looked down at her console and shrugged her shoulders very slightly.

"Well, it's very easy to hack." she told him.

"_No it isn't!"_ he objected before pulling out a noisy device which glowed green when he used it on the eyestalk, _"Where are you?"_

"Ship broke up when it hit. I'm somewhere… underground, I think." she replied, "You coming to get me?"

For the first time ever she was actually hopeful. If she was completely honest, she'd given up hope of being rescued. After a year of being stuck within the heart of a Dalek infested planet, she doubted that she'd ever get out but here was someone, whoever he was, who seemed to have the ability to rescue her. Of course she was a little bit hopeful!

Suddenly, the transmission began to break, making his voice become static for several milliseconds while his image rippled.

"_Hey! Oi!"_ he exclaimed as he tapped on the lens once again, _"Soufflé girl, come back!"_

"Damn…" she moaned as she lost the transmission, despite the fact she attempted to keep it going, "For God sake!"

She let her head fly back and hit off the chair. She sighed and looked back up at the blank screen. He was gone… again!

. . . . .

It had been a good half an hour since the man and his female companion, a Scottish girl with fabulous red hair, had been in contact with her, not that she actually spoke to the woman. However, after searching for their whereabouts for the last twenty minutes, she had finally located them in, believe it or not, another escape pod from her ship.

She managed to get a visual on them just as they entered cockpit of that particular pod. They were both leant up against the door, clearly out of breath after escaping from something which they had managed to lock out. However, she hadn't a clue what it was that they had been escaping from.

"Unauthorised personnel may not enter the cockpit." she stated in a voice which made her sound vaguely like a computer.

However, she doubted that any voice she put on would have been able to hide her amusement.

"_Shut up!"_ the man cried.

"Oh, Mr Grumpy." she moaned as he moved over to the Dalek camera she was watching them with, "Bad combo. No sense of humour and _that _chin."

"_Is that her again?"_ the Scottish woman asked the man, _"Soufflé girl?"_

"_Yeah, she- Oi!"_ he interrupted himself when he fully processed her words, _"What is wrong with my chin?"_

Oswin smiled before raising her eyebrow.

"Careful dear." she warned, "You'll put someone's eye out."

Oswin noticed the woman sniggered slightly while the man, slightly dumbfounded, began to run his hand over _that _chin. She couldn't help flirting, she'd always been a very flirtatious person and seeing as she hadn't had the opportunity to flirt which anyone in over a year, it was safe to say that she'd still got _it_.

"Scanning you." she told them as she initiated a scan from her wristwatch-type device, "You're on another one of the escape pods from the Alaska, right? The same ship I was on?"

"_Yes but- How can you hack into everything? It should be impossible!"_ cried the man, _"You're in a crashed ship!"_

Oswin sighed. "Long story." she explained before closing the device and looking back as his devilishly handsome face which was covering her viewscreen, "Is there a word for total screaming genius which sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?"

The man raised his eyebrow very slightly and smiled into the lens_. "Doctor."_ he answered, _"You call me, the Doctor."_

Oswin smirked. "See what you did there." she told him before returning to scan the section of the pod they were in, "Check the floor. I'm picking up a breech at floor level. There could be a way out… See you later."

Oswin smiled to herself as she ended the transmission and shoved the keyboard back onto the console.

"Right…" she said to herself as she stood up, "Need a drink…"

She happily skipped to the back of the pod and activated the replicator. It took its usual time to boot up, somewhere between ridiculously slow and downright annoyingly slow. Then again, it was working off power cells charged up by thermal power. Honestly, the amount of blankets she placed over them in order to charge them up at night was preposterous. They were usually more comfortable than she was… and they weren't even alive!

"Come on!" she cried before abruptly hitting the top of the device.

It was rare for her to be impatient but she was desperate to get back to the console. For the first time in ages she actually had something to do apart from mess with the Dalek systems.

It was then that she heard an alarm, an alarm she had never heard before. She snapped her head around the corner and looked in the direction that the sound was coming from. A deep frown crept up onto her face.

"What the hell…?" she said aloud.

It didn't take her long to notice a light flashing on the console. Her eyebrow raised a little as she dashed over. It certainly wasn't good, especially as she believed that that light was long dead…

She fell back onto the chair and retrieved the keyboard in one swift action, her fingers typing away at a pace they hadn't in a long time.

"Uh-oh…" she grunted, her eyes widening as she activated a camera in a vault where another male human was.

The room he was in was filled with Daleks, most of them catatonic but there was a major problem: they were waking up!

Without second thought she reached over and slapped down a switch before beginning to activate the door controls in that particular section of the vault.

"Run! The door at the end, run for it!" she screamed, making him jump in the process, "They're waking up, but they're slow. The door at the end, just run. Now! Now! Now!"

She felt her heart pounding as he did as ordered; completely bewildered and narrowly missing several laser blasts. Once he was through and the door was closed behind him, she breathed out a small sigh of relief. That had been much too close…

"So anyway," she brought herself to say, "I'm Oswin. What do I call you?"

"_Er…"_ he struggled as his head spun, _"I can't remember… Er, Rory."_

Oswin smiled. "Lovely name, Rory. First boy I ever fancied was called Rory."

"_Okay…"_ he agreed, not really registering what was being said.

Oswin turned her attention away from the screen slightly and considered what she had just said.

"Actually she was called Nina." she admitted, "I was going through a phase…"

Rory looked up towards the direction of her voice and nodded slightly.

"Just flirting to keep you cheerful." she explained.

Rory clambered to his feet while the now awake Daleks repeatedly screamed their dreaded battle cry. He shuddered slightly as the voices drilled into his head before turning to look at the camera he assumed Oswin was watching him from.

"_Er, okay."_ he said before looking back in the direction of the Dalek voices, _"Anytime you wanna start flirting again is fine by me."_

Oswin giggled slightly as he apprehensively began to walk down the darkened corridor.

Although she couldn't deny he was pretty good-looking, he just wasn't the right man for anybody barring the person who was clearly on his mind. Anyone could have seen that he was clearly a man in love; a more appropriate word would have been smitten. However, there was a pain in his eyes which made her feel extremely sorry for him. There was obviously something wrong, something she sincerely hoped would be corrected before his heart broke more than it already had…


	5. 1x4 - Man with a Plan

Chapter 4: Man with a Plan

It had been a few minutes since Oswin had checked up on the three newbie's on the planet. After finally getting her water from the replicator, albeit after a series of curses as it had thrown a few minor tantrums, she made her way over to the console and checked on the Doctor and his red-headed companion. They seemed to be doing fine, barring the fact that the woman was in danger as she was slowly being re-written by the nano-cloud.

The other male, Rory, was still alone and heading down the ridiculously long, dark corridor. He was doing okay, lighting the area with a tiny torch, but it was beginning to flicker at that point. That was probably due to the nano-genes in the air absorbing the power and using it to boost their own circuitry.

She sat down once again and retrieved the keyboard.

"Hey there, beaky boy." she greeted activating activating a speaker in that section.

"_If it's a straight choice, I prefer Nina."_ he told her.

Oswin laughed at his innocence. "Loving this." she told him, "The Nose and the Chin… you two could fence."

Rory smiled slightly.

"There's a door behind you." she told him as it began to rise, "In there quickly."

Rory did as ordered and entered the room. It was better lit that the corridor and contained some sort of large circular device on the floor which he went over to.

"Okay, you're safe for now." she guaranteed him, "Pop your shirt off, quick as you like."

Rory immediately frowned. _"Why?"_ he queried.

Oswin raised her eyebrows a little. "Does there have to be a reason?" she asked him.

"_Oswin!"_ the Doctor's voice called on another speaker to her left.

"Ooh, back in a mo." she told Rory before changing over the speakers.

"_Oswin, can you hear me?"_ the Doctor questioned.

"Hello, the chin." she greeted as she activated a camera in his section, "I have a visual on you."

She looked up at the screen and smiled as he looked up at the lens.

"_Why don't I have a visual on you?"_ he asked her, _"Why can't I ever see you?"_

Oswin shrugged her shoulders. "Limited power, bad hair: take your pick." she told him, "There's a door on your left. Open it."

The Doctor did as she said and opened a door which revealed a small screen.

"I'm going to send you a map to that screen." she told him, "I put your little friend somewhere safe. I can get you to him."

"_Rory?"_ he asked, _"You found Rory?"_

Oswin smiled. "I call him Nina. Personal thing, hush now."

The Doctor laughed a little and smiled as he activated the console in front of him. As he worked, he heard a tune begin to play through the speaker Oswin was talking to him with. He stopped momentarily and looked up at the lens. It took him a few seconds to notice it was actually her humming.

"Oswin?" he queried.

"_Yeah?"_ she asked, _"What is it?"_

"You're humming." he stated.

"_Humming?"_ she attempted to clarify, _"No, I wasn't."_

The Doctor frowned slightly. "Yes you were." he said.

"_No, I seriously wasn't."_ she promised.

"You're sure?" he asked.

Oswin laughed slightly. _"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."_ she confirmed, _"I think I'd know if I was humming or not."_

The Doctor laughed a little and nodded. "I guess you would." he agreed.

Oswin smiled at the ridiculous man on the screen in front of her. She still couldn't get passed his bizarre dress sense but he himself deeply intrigued her and if she was honest, possibly in a few more ways than one.

_"How many Daleks directly ahead of me right now?"_ he asked her.

Oswin shrugged her shoulders. "Hard to say." she replied, "Some of them are catatonic but they do have fire power."

_"How do I get passed them?"_ he asked before noticing his friend wander off into dangerous territory, _"Amy!"_

Oswin watched intensely as after he managed to persuade Amy out of the chamber, a Dalek began to pursue them up the corridor. Her eyes widened a little as they ran back to a rope ladder which was also unavailable as converted dead bodies were approaching them via it.

"Oh my God…" she whispered when she got a first decent look at the zombie creatures.

She felt her stomach turn slightly when she realised they were wearing emergency fur coats left on Starship Alaska escape pods. Those bodies, those people, they were members of her crew…

She bit her lip and zoomed the camera onto them. They looked possessed… and dead, obviously, with mini Dalek eyestalk's sticking out of their foreheads. She sighed as she continued to watch them climb down the ladder. She couldn't help but wonder exactly who those people used to be.

She was about to move the camera away when she noticed something around one of the bodies' neck's. Her lip quivered and she covered her mouth in order to stop herself from crying out.

"No…" she whispered, feeling her eyes fill up as her foot began to quiver.

Around one of the necks was a small golden chain which held a small diamond cross. It was barely big enough to see until she zoomed in closer. However, she had noticed it for a reason… It was the necklace she had brought Louise after passing her exams at the Academy.

That body… it was her friend's…

She quickly moved the camera away from the bodies and back to the Doctor and Amy. Anything to keep her mind off the fact that her friend was dead, and certainly not resting in peace.

"… _Come on. Who's your daddy?"_ the Doctor questioned the lone Dalek.

"_You-are-the-Predator."_ it stated.

Oswin frowned. 'Predator'? Why did the Daleks call him 'The Predator'? How did he even know the Daleks?

"_Access your standing orders concerning the Predator."_ he ordered it.

"_The-Predator-must-be-destroyed."_ it recited.

Oswin's eyes widened in horror but by the smirk on his face, he obviously had a plan. Well, she hoped he had a plan.

"_And how are you gonna do that, Dalek?" _he queried, _"Without a gun, you're a tricycle with a roof. How are __you __going to destroy __me__?" _

It took a few moments before the creature began to emit an alarm which made Oswin frown. She had monitored the Daleks for the past year but never before had she seen that.

"_Self-destruct-initiated." _it stated.

"_What's it doing?"_ asked Amy.

"_It's going to blow itself up, and us with it."_ he answered, "_Only weapon it's got left."_

Oswin watched as he then proceeded to point his noisy device at the creature and lift the lid.

"_Self-destruct-cannot-be-countermanded."_ it explained.

The Doctor smirked. _"I'm not looking for countermand, dear."_ he told it, _"I'm looking for reverse."_

With that, he slammed the lid down and gave the Dalek a whopping kick as it began to travel back towards the chamber, clearly against its will.

Oswin watched as the Dalek collided with the others and exploded, sending ripples throughout the structure. The transmission was ended by the explosion and she gasped slightly, turning towards the direction of the explosion. Wherever it had occurred, she had felt it. Maybe she wasn't as far away from them as she had thought…

. . . . .

It had been a good fifteen minutes before she managed to re-establish a link with the Doctor, _Nina_ and Amy. They were all now in the original room where she had led Rory and Amy was in a minor comatose state with the two men looking down at her as she lay on the circular pad.

"_Will sleeping help her?"_ Rory questioned the Doctor, _"Will it slow down the process?"_

Oswin sighed. "You better hope so." she told them, "Because pretty soon she's gonna try and kill you."

She didn't mean to be dreary, she really didn't, but her heart was hurting as she had just discovered her best friend was now dead…

At that time, Rory said something inaudible to Amy and ended up receiving a massive slap off her, making Oswin's attention return back to them.

"_Same old Amy."_ the Doctor said with a smile before leaving his two companions and returning to work.

"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek?" she asked, not really expecting an answer, "Subtract love, add anger… Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?"

"_Well, somebody's never been to Scotland."_ she stated.

"_What about you, though, Oswin… How come you're okay?"_ the Doctor questioned, "_Why hasn't the nano-cloud converted you?"_

Oswin smiled a little. "I mentioned the genius thing, yeah?" she said, "Shielded in here."

The Doctor smiled as he made eye contact with the camera lens.

"_Clever you."_ he complimented before looking around at the Asylum, _"Now, this place. The Daleks said it was fully automated but look at it. It's a wreck!"_

"Well, I've had nearly a year to mess with them," she pointed out, "And not a lot else to do."

The Doctor shook his head slightly in a small state of confusion.

"_A Junior Entertainment Manager hiding out in a wrecked ship, hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the universe has ever seen. But you know what really gets me about you, Oswin? The soufflés. Where do you get milk for the soufflés?"_ he queried before looking around at Amy and Rory, _"Seriously, is no one else wondering about that?"_

"_No."_ stated Rory, _"Frankly, no… Twice."_

"So, Doctor. I've been looking you up." Oswin told him, bringing his attention back to something more important than soufflés, "You're all over the database. Why do the Daleks call you the Predator?"

The Doctor smiled. _"I'm not the Predator, I'm just a man with a plan."_ he told her.

Oswin's eyes widened. "You've got a plan?" she asked, her voice with a hint of happiness.

"_In no particular order, we need to neutralise all the Daleks in this Asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from this planet and fix Amy and Rory's marriage."_ he put forward.

Amy shrugged her shoulders. _"Okay, I'm counting three lost causes. Anyone else?"_

The Doctor rolled his eyes and attempted to hide his frustration by turning back to the camera.

"_Oswin, there's a Dalek ship in orbit."_ he informed her.

She nodded. "Yes. Got it on the sensors." he told him.

"_The Asylum has a force field."_ he explained, assuming she didn't already know that, _"The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn it off. Soon as I do, they'll burn this whole world and us with it. So, Oswin, my question is this: How fast can you drop the force field?"_

She couldn't help but frown slightly. "Pretty fast." she replied, "But why would I?"

"_Because this is a teleport."_ he said referring to the pad Amy was still one, _"Am I right, Oswin?"_

She nodded. "Yeah. Internal use only." she answered.

"_I can boost the power. Once the force field is down, I can use it to beam us right off this planet." _he told them all.

After a few objections from his companions, the Doctor turned back to the camera.

"_Oswin, how fast can you drop the force field?"_ he queried.

"I can do it from here." she told him, "As soon as you come and get me."

"_No, just drop the force field and come to us."_ he told her.

Oswin raised her eyebrow slightly. "There's enough power in that teleport for one go. Why would you wait for me?" she enquired.

The Doctor stopped what he was doing and looked directly into the camera lens.

"_Why wouldn't I?"_ he asked her.

Oswin shrugged her shoulders. "No idea. Never met you." she stated, "Sending you a map so you can come get me."

"_This place is crawling with Daleks!"_ Rory cried as she sent the map.

She immediately looked up at the screen. "Yeah." she expressed, "Kind of why I'm anxious to leave… Come up and see me sometime."

It was then that she flopped back into her chair. Finally, after all this time, she was about to be rescued from that hell-hole. Finally, she was about to leave the Dalek infested planet and best of all; she was going to get to know who the Doctor really was…


	6. 1x5 - Coming Clean

Chapter 5: Coming Clean

Wiping away a lone tear which had just trickled down her face, Oswin switched the camera away from Amy and Rory and back to the Doctor.

She did feel a little bit like a Peeping Tom, especially after witnessing what had just occurred between the pair of them. All day she had believed that Amy had been rather cold-hearted to Rory after her constant snide comments towards him. However, after just witnessing her admit the truth about why she 'gave him up'; she felt her heart go out to them. They really were brilliant for one another, each of them willing to suffer in silence as long as it stopped the other one hurting.

Oswin pulled herself together just as she turned the camera onto the Doctor who was straightening his bowtie.

"Why did you do that?" she questioned him.

The Doctor frowned momentarily. "_I don't know what you're talking about."_ he told her.

Oswin smirked a little. "You may be a total screaming genius but you're a lousy liar." she told him, "Now, don't insult my intelligence… You gave her that band to keep her safe, but you didn't tell them because you hoped they'd talk about it… why?"

The Doctor stopped in his tracks and lent back on the wall.

"_They're too special to me just to give up everything they have together."_ he confessed.

Oswin smiled softly. "You care for them?" she asked.

The Doctor nodded. _"More than anything."_ he admitted, "_They're __**my**__ Ponds…"_

Oswin sighed as she saw some sort of pain etched onto his face, a pain which made him seem incredibly old. It was like he had seen many things, thing's she'd never understand.

"_So, what about you?"_ he asked her.

"Sorry?" she queried.

"_Come on."_ he told her, "_I've just admitted my feelings, but what about you? I mean, who are you?"_

Oswin frowned a little. "No-one special." she replied, "I mean, I'm Oswin. I was born in Westminster in London and, I always wanted a life in space. That's it."

The Doctor nodded as he ingested her answers. It took him a few moments before he dared to ask his next question.

"_What happened to you?" _he asked.

Oswin's frown deepened. "What do you mean?" she questioned.

The Doctor looked up at the camera and directly into her eyes, not that he actually knew he was doing that.

"_There's just something about you… when it comes to the Daleks."_ he stated, _"It's like… like you have something personal against them, and I'm not just talking about being stuck on the same planet as them for a year."_

Oswin gulped. "How… how can you know that?" she enquired.

The Doctor smiled weakly. _"Because you're not disagreeing with it."_ he pointed out.

Oswin sighed. "Stop being… clever." she stated.

The Doctor laughed a little which made her smile slightly.

"_So what happened?"_ he asked once again.

Oswin sighed deeply before sliding back into her chair.

"They… they killed my Dad." she explained, "A Dalek attack in Massachusetts a couple of years ago."

The Doctor felt his hearts drop a little. Poor woman, no wonder she was angry with them. They had ripped her family apart…

"_You were there, weren't you?"_ he attempted to confirm.

Oswin gasped rather quietly. "How the hell do you know that?" she quizzed.

The Doctor sighed. _"The way you try to disguise your hatred to them… but it's like it's more than that… You saw something or experienced something, and it was there…"_ he answered.

Oswin shook her head in a state of disbelief. She'd only met him that day but he already could read her like a book. She wasn't sure that she was supposed to like that, but she kind of did… After a year in isolation, she was happy just to have someone to talk to and who could understand her.

_"I was there too."_ he admitted.

Oswin's eyes widened a little. "You?" she queried.

The Doctor nodded. _"I was on the Primary Attack Ship warding off the Daleks." he explained, "The 50 Minute Invasion of Massachusetts, how could I not be there?"_

Oswin gulped slightly as the Doctor continued.

_"The entire state slaughtered, all barring seven children found in Hancock Place." _he continued, _"Apparently there was a woman too but nobody knew who she was…"_

Oswin felt her lip quiver as the memories began to return. "That… that was me…" she admitted.

The Doctor nodded. _"I know."_ he confessed as he had just worked it out, _"What happened to you in there? I mean, I've seen Daleks before, many times in fact, but I've never seen them act the way they did that day… They just froze and stopped the attack. Daleks don't do that… They don't just stop and leave…"_

Oswin gulped as he turned once again to look directly into the camera, explaining the memories which kept her awake most nights.

"_What happened in there?" _he interrogated.

Oswin gulped slightly. "I… I don't know." she replied, "I don't understand why they stopped, they just did."

The Doctor shook his head. _"No…"_ he said as he shook his head_, "Come on Oswin. You know as well as I do, Daleks don't leave survivors. Why did they spare you? What happened… what __physically __happened before they stopped?"_

Oswin sighed once again and slowly shook her head. It was strange. She had never told anybody exactly what had happened that day, not even the authorities. She had no idea why she seemed to trust that man but his gentle face seemed to coax the words out of her… not that she was complaining.

"You know, I ask myself that everyday." she confessed, "I did exactly what the other man did and they killed him… but not me."

The Doctor bit his lip a little. He could hear that she was suffering, her words crackling as she remembered that day which had left him questioning his knowledge of the Daleks.

"_It hurts you, doesn't it?"_ he enquired, his hearts actually hurting as they beat in his chest.

He may not of known her that long, but the level of care he felt for her was like no other. Never before had he felt so attached to someone so quickly…

Oswin didn't need to answer his question. The fact that she had fallen deadly silent was all the confirmation he needed.

"_Tell me what happened." _he pleaded, _"Maybe coming clean will help you."_

Oswin shook her head. "I don't wanna bore you with it." she said to him.

The Doctor smiled softly. _"I'm still listening." _he stated.

Oswin bit her lip before slowly bending forward and resting her elbows on her knees.

"The… The Daleks came, and people ran." she began, "So did I…"

_They were getting closer, the intervals between each laser blast was decreasing by the second. With her fingers firmly interlocking with her father's, Oswin ran as fast as her legs could carry her._

_It was safe to say she was petrified. Although she was used to seeing aliens, after all, Earth was a regular travel destination for the passing humanoid creature, but never before had she been in an attack of any kind. She heard of a few on local media postages but she'd never actually been in one, not even near to one._

_People were screaming around her as the blasts hit their fragile bodies and deposited them on the hard tarmac below. Buildings burnt, ground vehicles exploded, rubble fell… it was absolute chaos!_

"We were ushered into a building by one of the USS Valiant Officers, the ancient 'Hancock Place' to be exact." Oswin continued, "There were nine of them in Boston that day. God knows how, but they managed to deadlock the building, temporarily…"

_It was at the point now that she believed that she was about to die. Outside, all the streets were deadly still, all the people scattered lifelessly down the pavements. The state was burning around them but the Daleks still hadn't finished. They had all begun to group around the building, all shrieking their dreaded battle cry while attempting to gain access into Hancock Place._

_Oswin gripped tightly onto her father's hand while she looked around at the people inside the lobby with her. There must have been about fifty, not many considering the state itself had been swarming with people earlier that day._

_The nine Valiant Officers were futilely attempting to calm the crowd but that wasn't an easy task as they were all minutes away from facing their deaths. However, the crew Officers did have the chance to escape, namely their transport beacons which were strapped around their wrists, not that they even considered just abandoning civilians. That would have been worse than facing death... that would have gone against every principle that their uniform stood for!_

_Oswin soon broke away from her father's grip when she spotted a child sobbing her heart out, clearly lost as she made her way through the crowd. She was only four or five years old, clearly upset and lost._

"_Where's my Mommy?!" she cried, "Mommy! Where is she?!"_

_Oswin brushed her own fears aside and ran over to her, immediately crouching down in front of her and attempting to alleviate her fear._

"_Hey…" she soothed._

"_Where's my Mommy?" she sobbed, "She's not here. Where is she?"_

_Oswin felt her heart break. The poor girl was in pieces. She didn't understand what was going on… didn't understand that her mother was probably one of the thousands of people dead outside._

_Oswin pulled her into her arms, her best attempt to comfort the lost little soul. The girl didn't pull back; she just stayed in the only safe place available: Oswin's arms._

"It was then that the Valiant Officers gave up their transport beacons." Oswin explained to the Doctor, "There were seven children in the group. Each of them were fitted with a beacon and the remaining two were given to me and a man, but they didn't work due to some Dalek interference… That's when the officers decided to hide us in the basement. They hoped that the Daleks wouldn't find us and then when the signal weakened, we could beam away…"

_Oswin felt her breath catch as she said goodbye to her father for the last time. Part of her wanted nothing more than to allow him to escape and let her die, however, she knew for a fact he wouldn't allow that._

_She felt so guilty that she was being given the chance to live while all the others were left as sitting ducks for the Daleks which were moments away from breaking in. The only reason she had been chosen to go with the children was because of the little girl who didn't want to leave her side…_

_One of the Valiant Officers escorted the nine of them down to the basement. With the little girl's hand embedded in one palm and a little boy's in the other, Oswin and the rest of the group followed the officer rapidly. The screams of the people above them could be heard as the Daleks broke through the seal, making Oswin's spine shiver._

"_Right, stay here." the Officer ordered, ushering them all into one of the darkened corners of the basement._

_Oswin and the male sat the children up in the corner, slightly hidden by ancient shelves and discarded wooden boxes._

"_God be with you all." the Officer blessed before closing the door behind him and heading back up to the onslaught._

_Oswin and the man took a seat next to the children who were all under ten years old. They were all petrified, not that she could blame them. However, they were all being very brave and as quiet as possible._

_Every few seconds, Oswin checked the transporter beacon around her wrist, hoping that soon interference levels would be within acceptable levels in order for them to transport away._

_That was when it happened. An almighty explosion ripped through the room as the door was blown off its hinges. The children didn't scream, or even cry, but they all began to shake with fear as a Dalek entered the room, then another, then another._

"_Detecting-humanoid-life-signs." one stated, "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"_

_Oswin braced herself as the creatures turned in their direction. From where she was sat, she could see the metal demons between the gaps between the boxes and she knew for a fact that they were all pointing their weapons at them._

"_For God sake, they're just children!" the man hissed as he stood up, revealing his location to the Daleks, "Show mercy!"_

"_No don't…" Oswin whispered in vain._

She sighed to herself as she felt her eyes watering.

"That was the worst thing he could have said." she pointed out, "Mercy! Daleks don't have _mercy_…"

The Doctor could feel his hearts pounding. He seriously didn't understand how she managed to escape but he was extremely eager to find out. Never before had he met someone who had escaped the Daleks, well, maybe once, but never in a situation such as Oswin's.

"_EXTERMINATE!" one of them shrieked before shooting at the man and killing him stone dead._

_Oswin gasped in horror as his body hit the ground with an almighty thud. Meanwhile, the children screamed, unable to control how panicked they felt any longer._

_Oswin sighed deeply before doing possibly the bravest thing she had ever done._

"_Just leave them! They're just children. Young, innocent, scared children." she cried, standing up herself and looking eye-to-eye with the middle Dalek._

_"Irrelevant!" the middle Dalek stated._

_"FINE!" Oswin screeched, "But you have to kill me first!"_

_Honestly, she didn't expect it would make any difference, her telling them to kill her first. However, to her surprise, it did. _

_The room remained silent, the expected battle cry failing to make an appearance._

_After a moment, the middle one closed the distance between itself and her, making the hairs on the back of her neck raise. However, it didn't shoot. Instead, it just looked at her, the blue light in its eyestalk shining directly into her eye._

_Oswin gulped. "What are you waiting for?" she questioned it._

_The Dalek rotated its head and looked at the other two Daleks before looking back at her._

"_You-are…" it began before trailing off._

_Oswin frowned, deeply alarmed by their behaviour, especially as the three of them had all lowered their weapons. She was also amazed that the shooting above them ceased, so had movement. For a moment, everything just stopped._

"_I'm what?" she managed to bring herself to say._

_The Dalek looked at her once again._

"_Evacuate-Earth." it ordered._

_In sync with one another, the three Daleks turned and began to head out of the room, sparing not only her, but the children too…_

"And… then it left." she finished, "They all did…"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows slightly and remained silent.

Oswin smiled weakly at his apparent confusion. "I don't know what happened that day, Doctor." she confessed, "But I really wanna know… Why did it spare my life while so many others died?"


	7. 1x6 - Running

Chapter 6: Running

The Doctor continued his treacherous trek down the corridor. He could hear movement echoing from rooms rather far away but even still, the hairs on the back of his neck were raised. Cautiously, he peered around a corner only to be greeted with another dark and gloomy, endless corridor. However, that was better than running into any Daleks.

It was then that he heard a newly familiar tune from sound from the speaker above him.

_"Altered and then gone…"_

He stopped in his tracks and looked up in the direction of a camera while Oswin, oblivious to his pause, continued weakly singing the gloomy tune. He would have spoke but he couldn't help but listen to what she sang. It was almost like she was a siren, her voice forcing him to listen.

"_Tick tock, lost in the dark," _she continued, _"That was number one…"_

The corridor fell quiet once again and with a small smile, he continued on his way.

"What was that?" he questioned after a moment.

"_What was what?" _she queried.

The Doctor looked up at the camera and smiled slightly.

"That song." he responded, "What was it?"

"_I… I wasn't singing." _she told him.

He laughed hesitantly. "Yes you were." he argued, "That was your voice… You were singing."

"_No, I seriously wasn't." _she guaranteed, _"Trust me, I don't sing. There's a reason karaoke's banded from a girl's night out. I can't sing to save my life."_

"But you were just singing, I heard you." he pointed out.

"_Did you hit your head or something, chin boy?" _she teased, _"I know, for a fact, I weren't singing."_

The Doctor let his frown deepen as he continued on his way. He would have actually bet his life that she had been… either that or the fall from orbit was really messing with his head.

No, he was sure she had been. After all, he'd been listening to her voice, her soft and beautiful voice, all day and he knew it, he just knew that she had. Part of him really hoped she was teasing him but the way her voice sounded when she answered, he was confident she was positive about her answer… It didn't make sense…

Oswin continued to watch him on the screen as he closed the distance between her location and wherever he was.

"_Oswin, I think I'm close." _he told her.

Oswin nodded to herself and smiled. "You are." she confirmed, "Less than twenty feet away… which is the good news."

The Doctor nodded slowly on the screen. _"Okay…"_ he agreed, _"And the bad which I suddenly feel is coming?"_

Oswin sighed. "You're about to pass through Intensive Care." she explained.

She watched as he hesitantly entered the room filled with the most insane Daleks on the entire planet. They were all in cages, either that or chained up. To be fair, she didn't believe it would be much of a problem; those ones hardly ever woke up.

"_What's so special about this lot, then?"_ the Doctor queried, his voice filled with a hint of hatred she hadn't spotted before.

"Don't know." she confessed as she pulled up their data and began to skim through it, "Survivors of particular wars: Spiridon, Kembel, Eridius, Vulcan, Exxilon… Ring any bells?"

The gulped momentarily as his speed decreased. _"All of them."_ he admitted.

Oswin's eyes widened a little. "Yeah?" she attempted to confirm, "How?"

The Doctor took in a deep breath before continuing. He had a horrible feeling about being in the midst of a room filled with those Daleks.

"_These are the Daleks who survived __**me**__…" _he confessed.

Suddenly, something happened which Oswin seriously hadn't expected. Her console began to ring out in a chorus of alerts but she didn't need her console to show her what was happening…

"_Doc-tor?"_ one of them questioned.

"_Doc-tor."_ another stated.

Oswin's brow burrowed as her eyes widened a little.

"_Doc-tor."_ a few of them stated in sync with one another.

"That's weird." she pointed out, "Those ones don't usually wake up for anything."

The Doctor, suddenly very alarmed, ran across the room.

"_Yeah, well special visitor."_ he pointed out as he reached a door, _"Okay, door but it won't open. I can't be far away, though."_

"Hang on, not quite sure." she told him as she began to type away, "There's a release code. Let me just- anything out there?"

"_No!"_ the Doctor responded abruptly, clearly beginning to get scared.

"Hang on, I'm trying to think." she told him.

The Doctor moved closer and closer to the door as the Daleks broke free of their flimsy restraints and approached him. His pulse rate went through the roof. Although they were disarmed, there was no doubt in his mind that these weren't going to kill him!

"_Doctor."_ they began to chant, _"Doctor."_

"_Oswin, get this door open!" _he cried, _"Oswin, open this door!"_

Her hands futilely races across the keyboard. "I can't!" she cried.

"_Oswin…"_ he pleaded.

The Doctor closed the distance between them. There was no escape, nowhere to run. This was it…

"_Just get this door open!"_ he begged, _"Oswin! Oswin, please…"_

The Daleks plunger-types device was millimetres away from his face, if that. He had seconds…

His breathing was short and sharp, his hearts beating so hard in his chest that he could hear them.

"_Get this door open!"_ he cried, _"Help me!"_

The Doctor was petrified. After everything he had been though, this was it. He was about to die. Not only that, he was taking Amy, Rory and Oswin with him. There was no way they'd escape the Asylum without him. Well, Amy and Rory stood a chance but they'd never be able to leave in the TARDIS. They'd be stranded…

Suddenly, much to his relief, the Daleks just stopped. He didn't know how or why, but they just stopped and began to move away, leaving him feeling completely baffled.

"Oh, that is cool." Oswin stated, "Tell me I'm cool, chin boy."

The Doctor, still in a state of shock, clambered to his feet.

"_What… what did you do?"_ he questioned.

"Hang on; I think I've found the door thingy." she told him.

"_No, tell me what you did!"_ he demanded, hitting his fist off the wall as he straightened his spine.

Oswin smiled to herself. "The Daleks, they have a hive mind." she explained, "Well, they don't, they have a sort of telepathic web."

The Doctor nodded. _"The path web, yes."_ he understood.

"I hacked into it." she told him, "Did a mass delete on all the information connected with 'The Doctor'."

The Doctor gulped slightly. _"You… made them forget me?"_ he attempted to clarify.

"Good, eh?" she boasted before hitting a button on her console, "And here comes the door."

As the door rose, the Doctor leant against it, ready to see the pod where she had been living for the past year.

"_I've tried hacking into the path web."_ he told her, _"Even I couldn't do it."_

Oswin grinned. "Come and meet the girl who can."

The Doctor breathed out a deep sigh as the door finished rising and his eyes fell onto the object on the other side of the room.

He immediately felt his hearts shudder and his eyes widened. For a moment, he couldn't move so he just remained leant on the door frame, mostly for support.

"Hey, you're right outside." she stated eagerly, "Come on in."

If he was honest, he didn't understand completely. The room itself was deadly still; the only noise was her voice which was still coming from one of the speakers.

"_Oswin…"_ he managed to bring himself to say, "_We have a problem."_

She immediately looked up and out of the window which he was stood in.

"No we don't. Don't even say that!" she told him, "Joined the Alaska to see the universe, ended up stuck in a shipwreck first time out… Rescue me chin boy, and show me the stars."

The Doctor cautiously approached her. _"Does it look real to you?"_ he enquired.

Oswin frowned and looked around briefly. "Does what look real?" she questioned.

"_Where you are right now."_ the Doctor replied, _"Does it seem real?"_

"It is real." she stated abruptly.

The Doctor slowly shook his head. _"It's a dream, Oswin."_ he broke to her, _"You dreamed it for yourself because the truth was too terrible."_

The way his voice had suddenly changed filled her with enormous apprehension.

"Where am I?" she questioned.

The Doctor felt his hatred grow as her sweet voice suddenly ceased and the Dalek which stood before him began to talk.

"Where-am-I?" it queried, "Where-am-I?"

"_Because you are, a, Dalek."_ he gritted though his teeth as he approached her.

Her eyes widened in complete horror as he answered her previous question. How dare he, how dare he even say that! How dare he say that she was one of those _things_! She was _not_, she was _not_ a Dalek! She was _not_ one of those _things_ which had unmercifully killed so many people, her father included in that sample.

"I am not a Dalek!" she screamed through her gritted teeth, "I am _not_ a Dalek! I'm human…"

"_You were human when you crashed here."_ he explained, _"It was you who climbed out of that pod. That was your ladder…"_

Oswin felt her lip quiver as she briefly remembered back to the crash… For the first time in a year, she could remember what happened after evacuating the pod. She remembered the pod crashing, she remembered leaving after telling Louise and Harvey she'd be back soon, she remembered convincing Harvey to go outside and fix the outer exterior of the pod. She remembered exploring the darkened tunnels, meeting the Daleks, the conversion…

"I'm human…" her voice trailing off as even her own words seemed wrong.

"_Not anymore."_ the Doctor stated as he placed his hand on her casing, _"Because you're right. You're a genius… and the Daleks need 'genius'. They didn't just make you a puppet; they did a full conversion…"_

"They… they altered me…" she whispered as she tried to grasp what had happened, "Changed who and what I was…"

The Doctor nodded slowly, desperately attempting not to let his watered eyes burst. Although he hadn't known her long, the anger he felt towards the Daleks for doing that to her was incredibly strong…

"_This… this is why that Dalek didn't kill you back in Massachusetts a few years ago."_ he explained softly, _"I think it knew this had to happen to you…"_

Oswin felt her anger build up. "Had to happen?!" she cried, "Who the hell are you to tell me that this _had_ to happen to me?!"

The Doctor sighed. _"I'm a Timelord."_ he told her, _"Time isn't kind, Oswin, it's cruel, unbelievably cruel… This was always going to happen to you. If it wasn't, you would have died a long time ago…"_

Oswin rubbed her face and brought her hands slightly over her mouth, almost as if she was praying.

"_Oswin, I am so sorry."_ the Doctor sympathised, _"But you are a Dalek!"_

Oswin shook her head a little and looked around at her pod. For the first time ever, it looked very hollow. The only thing which remained was the chair near the front. The console was near enough gone, faded with everything else… it wasn't real.

"_The milk, Oswin."_ he pointed out, _"The milk and the eggs for the soufflés. Where, where did it all come from?"_

Oswin turned to look at the back of the pod. "Eggs…" she trailed off.

"_It wasn't real."_ he confirmed, _"It was never real."_

"Eggs..." she repeated yet again.

"Stir…Min…Ate." the Dalek continued.

"_Oswin?"_ the Doctor queried.

"Eggs… Stir-Min-Ate." she repeated, "Exterminate!"

"_Oswin!"_ the Doctor cried, _"No, no, no, Oswin! Oswin!"_

"Exterminate!" it repeated once again.

"_Listen Oswin, you don't have to do this!" _he attempted to make her understand.

"Exterminate!" it cried.

"_Oswin!"_ he exclaimed as she broke free from her restraints and backed up against the door.

She couldn't handle it… She felt her legs give away and she collapsed in a heap of sobs. She was gone, physically, she was gone…

It took her a moments before she found the strength to talk once again.

"Why do they hate you so much?" she asked him.

The Doctor bit his lip and looked away. _"I fought them." _he answered, _"Many, many times."_

"We have grown stronger… in fear of you." she stated.

The Doctor sighed. _"I know…" _he confessed in a whisper, _"I tried to stop."_

"Then run." she whispered.

The Doctor looked up, his eyes widened a little.

_"What did you say?"_ he attempted to confirm.

Oswin, pulling herself together, made her way over to the console which she managed to bring back, and lowered the force field surrounding the Asylum.

"I've taken down the force field." she informed him, "The Daleks above have begun their attack… Run!"

The Doctor frowned momentarily. _"Oswin, are you…?" _he began.

"I am Oswin Oswald." she confirmed, interrupting his earlier question, "I fought the Daleks and I _am_ human… Remember me."

The Doctor nodded for a split second before smiling at her.

_"Thank-you._" he expressed.

"RUN!" she demanded.

The Doctor, not needed to be told twice, smiled in appreciation before heading off.

Oswin sighed, flopped down in her chair and smiled as he ran back to the others.

"Run you clever boy, and remember."

. . . . .

As the Doctor dropped Amy and Rory home that day, his thoughts raced though the bittersweet day he had just experienced. Being stuck in the Dalek Asylum was certainly part of the bitter elements of the day but there were sweet elements moments too.

Not only had Amy and Rory made up after their petty little fallout, he had met a real genius of a girl, Oswin Oswald. She was smart, easy to talk to and very flirty. He really wished he could have saved her; unfortunately, the Daleks hadn't made that possible…

He couldn't help but speculate what she would have been like when she was human. Part of him debated going to see if he could find her before she crashed into the Asylum, however, that would have caused major problems, not worth the risk.

The Doctor couldn't deny it, he was hurt that she had died but another part of him praised her as she had singlehandedly made every single Dalek in the universe forget him. That was a major weight lifted off his shoulders. Nothing was going to bring him down, definitely not that day, and he knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to run, run and not look back. He was running for Oswin, he was going to run as ordered all in remembrance of his precious Soufflé Girl.


	8. Interlude: Loosing the Ponds

Interlude: Loosing the Ponds

Manhattan was once a beautiful place. It was a place where the sun shone nearly every day, the heat dancing over the ground and heating up the environment just enough to make it feel pleasant. It was a place where birds sang between the trees, filling the air with a peaceful happiness. It was a place where people smiled, happily enjoying their time in the city. It was a gem; a jewel which graced the surface of the Earth, a diamond which presented New York with an elegance usually reserved for fairytale Kingdoms and children's dreamed up lands. However, then the Angels came…

Sitting in central park, reading from a book which had caught his fancy, the Doctor couldn't remember a time he had felt so content. It was just a simple, carefree day, a day which couldn't possible turn bad, right?

With the birds singing and the gentle laughter of children playing nearby, he couldn't stop himself from joining in with the common smiling of all the humans around him. While Amy and Rory were around, nothing was going to get him down. Even when Rory abandoned the two of them in search of coffees, he didn't think anything could have spoilt that day. After getting passed the fact that it _wasn't _Amy's new reading glasses which were causing her eyes to go all 'liney', he smiled as he returned to the book. The feistiness and cheekiness of the narrator certainly kept him intrigued, not much of a surprise really after he learnt who the author of the novella was…

It turns out that New York had been invaded a long time ago, every statue in the entire city taken over by the Weeping Angels. It wasn't much of a surprise really, it was a perfect food source: The City which Never Sleeps.

It was pretty brave of him to hope for just one day where nothing bad happened. However, when he had landed in New York that day, he definitely hadn't expected it to be as bad as it shaped out.

He began to get worried when he read through the list of chapter titles a future version of River had wrote as helpful hints for them. Despite the fact that he had only needed to read them up until they knew the location of Rory who was missing at the time, he allowed his curiosity to get the better of him and he read further… Fatal mistake!

"_Doctor?" his rightfully concerned wife asked, "Doctor, what is it? Tell me!"_

_His hand gripped around the back of a chair while his eyes ingested what the words he was seeing said. _

"_Doctor!" repeated River, "Doctor, what is it? Tell me!"_

_Inside he was screaming. No… this wasn't written in front of him. This wasn't happening…_

'_Chapter 12: Amelia's Last Farewell.' he read inside his head, constantly repeating the words, his hand fitting in fear. _

_No… He wasn't prepared to loose her, he couldn't…_

The other major breaking point, the point where he truly believed that not everyone was going to survive that day was when the four of them: him, River, Amy and Rory, witnessed an older version of Rory pass away in front of them. Convinced that they were going to loose that battle, he was ultimately relieved when River suggested running in order to create a paradox. Yes, it would be hard, almost impossible, but worth it. Anything to save the Ponds from the Angels, he was willing to do. He'd lost too many people to loose them too…

However, as he made his way to the roof and saw Amy and Rory balancing on the edge, he was certain that wasn't what he had had in mind…

"_What the hell are you doing?!" he cried, dashing towards the pair of them._

"_Changing the future." explained Amy, "It's called marriage."_

_The Doctor felt his hearts tighten as lost in each others gaze, they both fell seamlessly off the building._

"_Amy!" he cried, dashing over to the edge and watching their frail bodies decrease their distance between them and the floor, "AMY!"_

Realising that the paradox had worked and finding both of them alive in the cemetery was the best feeling ever. At that moment in time, he swore to himself that he'd never do that again, he'd never let them end up in a situation that dangerous.

Believing that they were now safe, the Doctor lowered his guard. Unfortunately, it was too soon…

Not long after, they took him… they took Rory. It was then that he knew that he'd lost. He couldn't go back for him. Not only had they ripped New York apart, but he knew for a fact that when Rory 'died', part of Amy's heart died too.

He knew she'd choose him, to be honest, he'd expected it. As soon as he had seen Rory's gravestone, and the unnecessary amount of space on it, he knew he'd lost; he'd lost both of them, _his_ Ponds…

"_Come along, Pond." he begged through his distorted sobs, "Please…"_

_His face was soaked with his tears. His little Amelia Pond, the first person he had ever known while being Eleven was about to be ripped away from him… forever._

"_Raggedy man," she stated before she turned, her eyes leaking just as much as his, "Goodbye."_

His hearts broke then, shattered into millions of pieces as the Angel snatched her away. He was left utterly empty, his hearts bleeding with guilt as her name appeared underneath Rory's on the gravestone.

After reaching a point of relief, believing that the future had been rewritten, he certainly hadn't expected to loose them… so much for a simple, carefree day…

. . . . .

Months had passed, possibly even years since he'd lost his beautiful Ponds. After they had been killed by the Lonely Assassins, supposedly the loneliest creatures in the universe, he had found himself living a life of isolation on a cloud above Victorian London.

It hadn't been his ideal choice. However, despite the fact that he didn't travel any longer, it was nice to have people to talk to, very occasionally at the very least. That's where Vastra, Jenny and Strax came in.

The thought of the Pond's deaths still made his body flood with guilt. He still blamed himself, in his eyes, it was his fault that his little Amelia Pond, the girl who waited and her Rory Williams, the last Centurion were both dead… long dead by now. The fact that they lived full lives still didn't comfort him. The only reason they ended up in that situation was because of him.

He occasionally walked around the deserted streets of London. He found that in 1892, a mere four years after the violent attacks of 1888, the year of Jack the Ripper, people were still cautious of venturing into the streets of London late at night, not that he minded. At least because of that, he didn't have to worry about running into anyone.

"We we're hoping to run into you." Vastra smiled, appearing from the darkness as he walked past.

He stopped dead in his tracks, forcing himself not to shout. He couldn't help it, he was still angry.

"Would you hold it against me if I said the feeling wasn't mutual?" he queried.

Jenny exchanged a look with Vastra before looking back at the Doctor.

"There's a man…" she told him, "There's a man who claims 'e can destroy the world with the click of a butt'n. Worth a look, don't ya think?"

The Doctor let his head drop a little. "Why do you keep doing this?" he asked, "You know I won't get involved anymore… I don't do this anymore…"

Vastra sighed. "Doctor…" she began.

"No." he hissed, interrupting her words, "I'm no _Doctor. _Doctors don't destroy lives."

Vastra and Jenny stood in front of him, both in complete silence as he turned away and walked away down the narrow street, completely disappearing from their view.

"I think 'e means it." whispered Jenny.

Vastra nodded slowly. "Unfortunately my dear, so do I." she concurred.

The Doctor continued on his way, avoiding any street with any number of people on. No matter the amount of shouts or screams that he heard, he didn't let himself get drawn to them. He wasn't prepared to let his hearts warm to anybody else, not ever.

As he walked down an alleyway, his body tensed as a woman appeared in a doorway. There was no time to turn around so he continued to walk, turning his head so not to look at her. Hopefully she'd take the hint and leave him be.

"Evenin' soilder." she greeted in a teasing manner, not that he actually noticed.

The Doctor nodded ever so subtlety. "Evening." he grunted.

The woman watched him pass, taking the hint that he really wasn't in the mood to talk. However, she couldn't help but smile. He may not have been in a talkative mood but that certainly didn't change the fact that he looked rather nice, dare she even say attractive.

Continuing on his way, the Doctor turned the corner off the alleyway he'd met her in. As he did so, he heard a tune suddenly begin; filling his eardrums and making him stop momentarily. He was sure it sounded familiar…

"_Tick tock…"_it began slowly, _"Lost in the dark…"_

He slowly turned his head as it continued to be sung, mostly inaudible barring that the last line.

"… _Num__ber two…"_

The Doctor roughly shook his head as the tune ended and left a deadly silence fall over him.

"No." he declared to himself, "No, I won't do this… Not again."

And with that, he continued on his way.


	9. 2x1 - Doctor Who?

Chapter 1: Doctor Who?

Not many people would be content with living in London, especially due to the brutal murders that had taken place a few years before, however, she didn't mind that much. She'd always known that London could be a brutal place but growing up in the city had built up her strength enough so she knew how to have a laugh but handle herself at the same time.

She wasn't a typical woman of her age, to be honest, she never had been. All of the girls she had grown up around were all married by now, most of them proud mothers of at least one child, some even two… then there was her.

Her father had tried to find her a suitable husband; countless times in fact, however he didn't mind that she wasn't with anyone as she had a fantastic position as a Governess for Latimer Family, consisting of Captain Latimer and his two children, Francesca and Digby. She had previously worked for a family in the East End of London before their relocation to a place up North almost a year earlier. She had loved working with little Arthur and Emma. She was glad to have been their Governess and although the family had offered her a place with them in their new house, she couldn't bring herself to leave London. After all, it was, and always would be, her home.

Despite her love of being a Governess, she couldn't help loving her life in the lower part of society, mostly her work as a barmaid in the Rose and Crown. If her father could have seen her, he'd more than likely have her guts for garters. However, that wouldn't be until after he'd recovered from the shock of her low cut dresses and her constant banter with the customers. Obviously she was only being friendly but he certainly wouldn't see it like that.

She couldn't help flirting; she'd always been a very flirtatious person. To be fair, it wasn't as if she was going out of the pub every night with a different man and finding herself in compromising positions in dark alleyways. Absolutely not! She didn't intend to be in any position like that until she had a wedding band firmly planted on her finger, and she certainly didn't intend to end up doing anything like _that_ in dark alleyways. She may have been a total flirt but she definitely knew what her limits were, after all, she was a lady.

As she gathered up all the unwanted tankards from the empty tables, she smiled to herself. She'd worked at the Rose and Crown on and off for almost a year now. If she remembered correctly, it was ever since Arthur, Emma and their parents left London. At the time she hadn't been given another governess position straight away so due to her need of money, she turned to working in the pub. Rather that than turning to prostitution, a common occupation of many Londoners out of 'official' work.

Whenever she was away on _family business_, she found herself in the pub working well into the night. She couldn't deny that she didn't like it; after all, she had gotten to know many locals and she loved catching up with them.

"Ain't seen ya 'round for a while." a man stated as she passed.

Stopping in her tracks and turning to face him, she grinned and leant on the bar next to his stool.

"Been workin', ain't I?" she smirked.

The man, who she knew as Jack, grinned, displaying his almost perfectly white teeth, a very uncommon sight in those parts of the city. However, unlike his teeth, the rest of his face was a mess, stubble growing under his chin and a thick moustache coating his top lip. However, she couldn't deny that he wasn't a bad looking man, especially for someone in his late forties.

"What work?" he queried, "What'cha do when ya ain't in 'ere?"

She smiled and winked down at him before leaning over and retrieving his empty tankard.

"You'd never believe me if I told ya." she explained.

Jack was certainly one of the most frequent locals who she actually liked to talk to, mostly because he wasn't drunk nine times out of ten. He only came into the pub on Friday or Saturday nights, and it was usually only for a couple of drinks. Unlike most regulars, he was sensible.

She knew he was married, to the local Nurse. Clara had no idea how he managed to pull her, after all, she was one of the most stuck-up and unhappiest people she had ever had the misfortune to know. She would actually have sworn that the reason local children didn't get ill often was because they were afraid of being stuck under her jurisdiction for a few days.

"Oh, come on Clara." Jack moaned, "I'm only askin' what a pretty girl like you gets up to when ya not stuck in this place."

She laughed a little before smirking. "Well, that's for me to know and you to wonder." she told him.

With that, she left him alone and headed over to newly emptied tables in need of clearing. As she gathered the tankards together, she took another glace around the pub. Although she was loving her work there, she couldn't help but let her excitement build for the following day…

The streets outside where beginning to be coated with a fresh layer of snow. It wasn't that surprising, especially as Christmas was only two days away.

Clara loved Christmas, especially when she got to spend it with children. However, she believed that that year was going to be rather bittersweet. Despite the fact she'd be spending it with the Latimer family, it was going to be her first year without little Arthur and Emma. She was definitely going to miss Emma's face when receiving her Christmas gifts from her parents and Arthur's excitement to venture out in the snow.

Although as a Governess she wasn't supposed to be involved in the personal lives of her employers, Clara had been very lucky that Arthur and Emma's parents, Sir and Madame Morley, had been kind enough to include her in theirs. She was also extremely grateful that Captain Latimer had also done the same. She honestly didn't know what she'd do if she had to spend Christmas alone.

"Clara!" the barman, Mr. Chilcott, called over the generalised racket made by the customers, "Can ya go wash some of the tankards? We're runnin' out of clean 'uns."

She gave him a quick nod before swapping her near-enough empty tray with one he'd left on the bar stacked with loads of them.

As she stepped outside, the cold air greeted her with an icy slap around the face. She shuddered slightly and looked over the tiny courtyard. The snow was falling thick and fast now, the entire cobbled ground covered with at least one layer. She was about to cross it in order to get to the wash house when she saw something in the corner of her eye. A figure.

She swiftly put the tray down on a box and examined the area closer. The corner of the yard itself was pretty dark, but she would have sworn someone, or something, was there looking at her. Call it woman's intuition…

"Hello?" she called.

She could just about make out a shadow standing in the corner. If her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, she would say he was male. He appeared to be thin, a good foot taller than her, and definitely trying to conceal himself behind the corner of the building across the other side of the yard.

Cautiously, stepping a little closer, she dared to speak again.

"Hello?" she questioned, "Who's there?"

Suddenly, a small gust of wind made her gasp and in the corner of her eye, she spotted a new shape appear. Immediately snapping her head around, she turned to see a large snowman on the other side of the yard. It was a tall thing, a good half a foot taller than her with peculiar sharp looking teeth. Strange… she would have sworn it hadn't been there a minute ago.

She quickly turned back to the dark corner, only to see that the figure had disappeared completely. However, she wasn't bothered. She was much more interested in the new snowman.

Cautiously stepping closer to it, her view of it was momentarily disrupted as a figure crossed her eye line. Without looking away from the snowman, she began to speak.

"Did you make this snowman?" she queried.

"No." the man answered, mush harsher than he had intended.

"Well, who did?" she questioned, "Cuz it weren't there a sec'nd ago. It just appeared, from nowhere…"

The man paused, almost as if he were fighting against himself whether or not he should speak to her. Seriously, she didn't bite…

Slowly, he turned on the spot and made his way over to her and the snowman. He took a few moments to look down at her before turning to the snowman. He slowly brushed his fingers across it, pulling flakes of snow off with them.

"Maybe its snow that fell before." he suggested, examining the flakes on his fingertips, "Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen."

Clara scoffed slightly. "What, snow that can remember?" she queried, "That's silly."

The man smirked slightly, his lips breaking through the serious look painted across his face.

"What's wrong with silly?" he asked her.

Clara shrugged her shoulders and raised her eyebrow playfully.

"Nothin'." she answered, "Still talkin' to you, ain't I?"

Looking up and seeing his face properly first time was breathtaking. It wasn't like her to instantly like a man just for looks. Yes, she seen some good-looking men before, but he was something else. His attire was rather striking, a brilliant shade of purple, and a hat that, miraculously, he could pull off. The spectacles sat on his nose were rather strange but as he removed them seconds later, it didn't really bother her.

"What's your name?" he enquired, a soft smile forming on his lips.

"Clara." she responded.

The man smiled weakly before looking away.

"Clara." he repeated as he began to leave, "You should definitely keep it… Goodbye!"

She frowned slightly as he turned the corner and disappeared from her sight. She didn't know why, but she began to follow, her steps increasing rather quickly until she too walked around the corner.

"Oi! Where are you goin'?" she called after him, "I thought we was just gettin' acquainted."

The man paused and slower than he had before, he turned to face her. With a weak sigh and even weaker smile, he began to speak.

"Those were the days." he explained before resuming his exit.

She watched, slightly baffled, as he began to disappear from her view once again.

Did she find him strange? More than definitely… Did she find him attractive? Fairly certainly… Did she find him intriguing? Absolutely!

Without a second thought, she swiftly pulled off her apron, chucked it to the ground, and broke out into a run. She followed the carriage she had seen him clamber into for at least two streets. It quite possibly could have been three… It didn't take her long to reach it though, after all, carriages weren't particularly fast and to be fair, she was a pretty quick runner.

She managed to pounce onto it as slowed in order to turn a corner, letting her fingers attach to either side of the roof so she wouldn't fall off. Goodness knows what people would have thought if they had noticed, especially as she was in one of the most unladylike positions possible. It was certainly a good thing she wasn't wearing her governess attire. If she was, she'd surely face dismissal very soon…

"_How refreshing to see you taking an interest again." _she heard a feminine voice say from inside the carriage.

"_I just spoke to her." _the man's familiar voice objected.

"_And making your usual impact, no doubt." _the woman pointed out.

"_No! No impact at all." _the man stated adamantly, _"Those days are over."_

Clara was smiling to herself. He was certainly wrong about that, he had made an impact, a pretty big one if she was completely honest. However, she couldn't help but frown slightly. 'Those days are over', what exactly did he mean by that?

"_You can't help yourself." _the woman continued,_ "It's the same story every time, and it always begins with the same two words."_

"_She'll never be able to find me again." _he cried with a hint of frustration appearing in his voice,_ "She doesn't even have the name: Doctor… What __**two**__ words?!"_

Clara smirked as she swiftly opened the door on the top of the carriage and stuck her head through, allowing her hair to dangle freely as she looked at him upside-down.

"Doctor?" she questioned, "Doctor who?"


	10. 2x2 - Unforgettable

Chapter 2: Unforgettable

The Doctor couldn't believe it. He'd literally only spoke to her for a minute, maybe two, yet she had now collided with him. Her perfectly innocent timeline had clashed with his, putting her in danger and no matter how hard he hoped, now she'd been exposed to it, he'd never fully save her from him…

At that moment in time, Strax, his less than competent yet ridiculously funny Sontaran friend, was spying Dr. Simeon through his oddly large binoculars. Meanwhile, the Doctor was inspecting the snow, desperately hoping that his run-in with the girl, Clara, was all some horrible nightmare. He didn't want her to suffer like others had…

"They've taken samples from snowmen all over London." reported Strax, bringing his thoughts back to the current crisis, "What do you suppose they're doing in there?"

The Doctor sighed as he sieved the snow through his fingers. "This snow is new, possibly alien." he explained, "When you find something brand new in the world, something you've never seen before, what's the next thing you look for?"

"A grenade!" exclaimed Strax, causing the Doctor to roll his eyes.

"A profit." he told him, not bothering to question the answer: 'grenade', "That's Victorian values for you."

Strax nodded slightly, believing he understood every word that came out of the Doctor's mouth.

"I suggest a full frontal assault with automated laser monkeys, scalpel mines and acid." he put forward.

The Doctor's face fell once again, and that time he had to question what exactly was happening inside the alien's brain, if anything.

"Why?" he queried.

"Couldn't we at least investigate?" questioned Strax.

The Doctor shook his head and let it fall to look down at the snow. "It's none of our business." he stated.

"Sir, permission to express my opposition to your current apathy?" enquired Strax.

The Doctor laughed slightly and looked up at the Sontaran. "Permission granted." he answered, not meaning to sound as sarcastic as he had.

"Sir, I am opposed to your current apathy." Strax stated simply.

"_Let me out!"_

The Doctor sighed as he quickly looked back at his coach shaking rather violently. He had to give it to her; she was certainly a feisty one…

"Thank you, Strax." he expressed when he turned back to face him, "And if ever I'm in need of advice from a psychotic potato dwarf, you'll certainly be the first to know."

"But if the snow is new and alien, shouldn't we be making some attempt to destroy it? Be reasonable…" he cried before the Doctor's finger over his lips stopped him from continuing.

"_Let me out!" _

The Doctor looked sternly down at Strax, his eyes burning through the absent-minded creature.

"It's not our problem." he stated, "Over a thousand years of saving the universe, Strax, you know the one thing I learned?" he began, "_The universe doesn't care…_"

Being stuck in that cab, Clara hadn't heard much of the Doctor's conversation with whoever it was he was talking to, but she had heard that… _How dare he say that!_

"_Oi, Doctor! Let me out!"_ she demanded once again, _"Are ya listenin' to me?"_

The Doctor gulped as he looked back at the cab.

"Now, we have a problem of our own to worry about." he explained to Strax.

"_Let me out!"_ Clara ordered, _"Oi!"_

Within moments, the carriage door swiftly opened and the mysterious man, the Doctor, clambered in and sat across from her.

"Don't worry. No one's going to hurt you." he promised.

However, Clara's eyes didn't look over at him. Instead, they fell onto the _thing _stood by the door hindering her escape, not that she actually had any intention of escape until she knew what the hell was going on…

"What is that thing?" she questioned.

"Silence, boy!" commanded Strax.

Clara's frown morphed suddenly into a rather confused and slightly offended expression of shock. She knew for a fact that the dress was a clear give-away of her gender, that and _everything _else.

"That's Strax." the Doctor explained, "And as you can see, he's _easily confused_."

Strax's eyes widened and he nodded slightly in understanding.

"Silence, _girl_." he corrected, "Sorry, lad."

The Doctor rolled his eyes as Clara turned to face him. "Sontaran. Clone warrior race. Factory produced whole legions at a time." he explained despite the fact that all he was saying were words she had no chance of understanding, "Two genders is a bit further than he can count."

Strax's frown burrowed. "Sir, do not discuss my reproductive cycle in front of enemy _girls_." he pleaded, "It's embarrassing."

The Doctor smirked a little. "Typical middle child of six million." he told her.

Clara looked intensely at the man in front of her. There was something about him she didn't fully understand and that deeply intrigued her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "It doesn't matter because you're about to forget that you and I ever met." he told her before turning to Strax, "We'll need the worm."

"Sir." Strax acknowledged before disappearing from the door.

"You'll need the what?!" Clara cried, "The worm? What worm?"

"Don't worry, it won't hurt, but one touch on your bare skin and you lose the last hour of your memory." the Doctor explained.

Within moments Strax returned, with a definite lack of the object he left to retrieve.

"Where is it?" the Doctor enquired.

Strax looked up at him blankly. "Where's what, sir?" he queried.

The Doctor briefly looked up at Clara before leaning closer to Strax.

"I sent you to get the memory worm." he reminded him.

"Did you? When?" he queried before noticing Clara, "Who's he? What are we doing here? Look, it's been snowing!"

The Doctor sighed. "You didn't use the gauntlets, did you?"

Strax frowned. "Why would I need the gauntlets?" he questioned before his mind had an idea, "Do you want me to get the memory worm?"

Although Clara should have been a little worried at that point, her lips curled at the corners at the little _thing _stood outside the carriage. Apparently he was an alien, but part of her didn't believe that. There were no such things as extraterrestrials, were there?

. . . . .

"Well, can you see it?" the Doctor questioned the alien underneath the carriage.

"I think I can hear it." he responded.

Clara was stood a few metres away, smiling at the sight before her. When he had responded, she couldn't help but let out a small giggle.

The Doctor turned at that and pointed at her. "Oi!" he demanded, "Don't try to run away. Stay where you are."

Clara laughed silently. "Why would I run?" she quizzed, "I know what's gonna 'appen next and its funny."

The Doctor turned to face her once again. "What's funny?" he asked.

"Well, your little pal, for a start." she began, "'e's an ugly little fella, ain't he?"

The Doctor frowned at that. "Maybe." he agreed, "He gave his life for a friend of mine once."

Clara raised her eyebrow at that as the Doctor approached her. "Then 'ow come he's alive?" she enquired.

The Doctor sighed. "Another friend of mine brought him back." he answered before returning to where Strax was, "Although I'm not sure all his brains made the return trip!"

Clara smiled. "Neither am I." she agreed.

"I can see it!" the Sontaran boasted excitedly.

"Ooh! Can you reach it?" questioned the Doctor, "Have you got it?"

After a brief pause, he responded. "Got what, sir?" he asked.

Clara laughed to herself as she wandered over and retrieved a large pair of glove-like gauntlets attached to a hook on the side of the carriage.

"'Cause these are the gauntlets, aren't they?" she pointed out.

The Doctor immediately snapped his neck around and could feel himself about to scream, no, not scream, cry…

"Sir, emergency!" exclaimed Strax, "I think I've been run over by a cab…"

. . . . .

What had he been thinking when he let Strax do what he needed. Like the saying went, if you want the job done properly, do it yourself…

With the large white worm squirming in his hands protected by the large and un-comfy gauntlets specifically made for Sontaran hands only, the Doctor turned to allow Clara to see the creature.

"There you go. One touch and you lose about an hour of your memory." the Doctor told her, "Let it bite you, and you could lose decades."

During the explanation, he managed to shove the worm into a jar and seal it inside.

"And you're still not trying to run." he pointed out in a small state of amazement.

Any other person would have left by now, right? A stranger threatening to erase an hour of your memory with a freaky looking worm and has a psychotic potato dwarf as a friend who refers to you as a male _Homo sapien_… surely you would have run away by now…

"I don't understand how the snowman built itself." Clara confessed, "I'll run… once you've explained."

The Doctor smiled slightly. "Clara who?" he questioned.

"Doctor who?" she quipped back.

"Oh, dangerous question." he told her.

"What's wrong with dangerous?" she queried.

The Doctor turned away from her and began to explain that the snow emitted a low-level telepathic field. However, something else caught her attention, a snowman which just appeared…

"My snowman…" she whispered.

"… It seems to reflect people's thoughts and memories and because it's unusual, somehow it carries a previous shape and…" the Doctor continued.

"No, Doctor!" she interrupted, pulling him over to her and pointing to snowman identical to the one she had seen when she had first met him, "My snowman."

"Ah! Interesting." he said, "Well, were you thinking about it?"

"Yes." she replied instantly, literally a millisecond before another one appeared, then another, then another.

"Well, stop." he said before grabbing her hand and running back, only to be stopped by yet another group with appeared before them, "Clara, stop thinking about the snowmen!"

It was then when the one nearest to them seemed to increase in size while breathing icy snowflakes at them. Deadly snowflakes? Probably…

"Get down!" the Doctor cried before cupping her head firmly in his hands, "Clara, listen to me. The snow's feeding off your thoughts."

"I don't understand…" she confessed.

"You're caught in their telepathic field. They're mirroring you. The more you think about the snowmen, the more they appear." he explained, "Imagine them melting. Picture it. Picture them melted!"

She closed her eyes and sighed, doing exactly what he said. God knows why but she trusted him, completely.

She gasped as icy water suddenly sprayed over the pair of them. However, the good thing was that the snowmen were gone, all of them.  
The Doctor smiled softly as he released her head and looked around. "Well, very good… Very, very good!" he congratulated as he rose to his feet, "Ha!"

Clara let her breathing normalise by leaning on a wall slightly for support.

"Is that gonna 'appen again?" she quizzed.

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders slightly as he retrieved the jar with the worm inside.

"Well, if it does, you know what to do about it." he told her.

Clara raised her eyebrow at him as she rose to her feet. "Unless I forget." she pointed out.

The Doctor bit his lip as he put the jar down. She was right…

Within moments, he had ushered her back into the carriage.

"Don't come looking for me. Forget about me." he commanded, "You understand?"

Clara frowned slightly. "What about the snow?" she enquired, "Shouldn't we be warnin' people?"

The Doctor sighed and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Not my problem… Merry Christmas." he wished before closing the door and looking up at Strax, "Take her back where we found her."

"Sir." he acknowledged before driving off.

However, unknown to him and the Doctor, Clara was not inside it.

She watch the Doctor walk away, following him in the shadows. Part of her felt inclined to listen to his demand but there was another part of her which didn't want to. She just wanted to know who he was…

She followed him to an empty park. He made easy word of the railings, leaping over them with a simple elegance. He continued walking, whistling the carol 'Silent Night', trying to look discrete. However, his actions were far from normal. Anyone could have seen that…

What happened next made a small gasp escape her lips. When he jumped, he remained dangling from something that she couldn't see… Then he proceeded to use his strength to force down whatever it was he was holding onto… A ladder, a silver ladder…

Hidden behind a tree, she watched as he climbed up it and disappeared, along with the ladder itself. It took her a moment, but after that, she followed his actions exactly, walking over to the spot where he had been. There was no sign of the ladder when she looked up, or anything unusual. All that could be seen was the night sky.

"Leap of faith…" she whispered to herself.

She jumped high, hoping to grip anything but all her hands felt was the air and as her balance was off, she hit the floor with a rather unladylike thud. However, that didn't hinder her. She did it again, but that time it was different, especially when her hands gripped around something very hard and cold… metal.

Within moments, the ladder appeared and she pulled it down. After taking a deep breath, she climbed the ladder and found a spiral staircase extending up into the night sky. Following the sound of faint footsteps, she cautiously followed. She hadn't been climbing long when she reached the top, a top which led onto a cloud.

The entire thing was magical, the way the stars sparkled around her. Her eyes soon fell onto something, a blue wooden box with was labelled as a 'Police Public Call Box'. What exactly was that thing?

Part of her was sceptical to walk over to it. After all, a cloud wasn't solid, was it? One step and she may have fallen to her death…

It took her a few moments to pluck up the courage to step onto the fluffy cloud. When she did, she was truly amazed that she managed to stay on it. For reasons unknown to her, it was solid… Taking a deep breath, she moved over to the box and felt the exterior. It was certainly wood, she knew that much.

It took her a few moments of uncertainty before she brought herself to knock on the door. However, suddenly she felt very nervous and when she heard movement inside it, she moved dashed around the side to hide.

The door opened on a squeaky hinge and what she heard made her heart shuddered. It was him… it was the Doctor.

"Hello?" he called.

She heard him take one large stride out of the door and with that, she desperately tried to mask her deep breathing.

"Hello?" he asked once again.

He began to slowly search around the outside of the box and as he did, she silently made her way around, making sure he didn't catch her.

"Hello?" he called when he was half way round.

With one final burst on energy, she dashed towards the staircase. One good thing about being on a cloud was that footsteps were masked… She managed to reach the mouth of the staircase and grasp the rail when she heard the one thing she hadn't wanted to hear… the Doctor's voice.

"Clara?"


	11. 2x3 - Nothing but Trouble

Chapter 3: Nothing but Trouble

Clara stopped, frozen. She didn't want to turn around; she didn't want to see him. After all, he had requested that she didn't follow him yet there she was… She couldn't even lie, not that she could lie well, but she couldn't even say that she hadn't meant to be there. She was on a cloud for goodness sake!

Mind you, she wasn't sorry for following him, she wasn't sorry one bit. She had just discovered just how amazingly impossible he was… a beautiful, and possibly very lonely, man who lived above her world on a cloud. Maybe he was an angel…

Her heart was already beating wildly but when the moment came for her to turn around to face him, she felt it begin to hammer harder and faster to a point where it physically began to hurt her chest.

She gulped slightly, forcing air down her incredibly dry throat before turning slowly on the fluffy cloud beneath her feet. She met a gaze mixed between shock and terror. His face was stern and solemn, almost as if it was trying to hide a hint of fear and regret burning through his eyes…

God, those eyes… there was something about those eyes which haunted her. She hadn't noticed before, after all, they were being attacked by snowmen, but now that she saw them properly, she could see something which disturbed her greatly. It was strange; it was like they were old and new at the same time, like they'd seen things, horrible and beautiful, yet amazing and incredible things, things she couldn't even imagine in her wildest dreams. Exactly what it was about his eyes which haunted her, she had no idea, but they were awfully dark, so much that they emphasised a very deep and heart-wrenching loneliness within him.

"Doctor…" she whispered.

She couldn't deny it; part of her was convinced that everything that was happening was just some crazy, messed up dream. Any minute now she'd wake up in bed, all the events of that night: the snowmen, the Doctor, the cloud, all of it would just be faded images from some mad section of her subconscious…

"How…" he stuttered, "How did you get up here?"

Clara gulped slightly as he took a step closer to her. Her grip on the stair rail was lost and she bit her lip, not hard enough to draw blood but enough to leave a mark.

Why was she so afraid? She'd never been scared of anyone before; after all, she'd had a fair share of run-ins with drunken men in the pub, but never before had she felt even the tiniest ounce of fear towards anyone. However, with the Doctor it was certainly different. There was just something about him she was unsure about. Yes, she trusted him, she didn't know why but she did, nevertheless, there was something about him which made her heart shudder. Would he be angry that she had followed him, especially after being told not to do so?

Unsure what to say next as he closed the distance between them, she took a small step back, then another. Unfortunately, despite the fact her feet could travel that far back, the solid cloud beneath her feet didn't.

The feeling was atrocious when her feet dropped and due to it, she let out a rather sharp and deafening scream. She was falling…

The entire feeling left her stomach feeling very hollow. Luckily, it didn't last long as milliseconds later; she felt two large, strong hands grip around her chest. The sudden change made her gasp sharply and when her eye managed to register what had just occurred, she realised that the Doctor had somehow managed to catch her before she fell any further.

She had to give it to him; he was much faster than she had given him credit for.

Her eyes caught his and for a split second, she saw a glint of something in his eye, a sparkle she hadn't noticed before. He smiled softly as he lifted her fully back onto the cloud while her erratic heartbeat returned to the norm. Any ounce of doubt that she had about all the events of that night had all been erased in a nanosecond, she was certain now. The Doctor was real, _actually, properly real..._

"Are you alright?" he questioned softly.

She nodded slightly, unable to force any words out of her mouth.

He sighed softly before guiding her a safe distance away from the edge. As he did, he noticed that her petite body had begun to shiver. He wasn't entirely sure whether that was due to her near-death experience of falling from the cloud or just because being that high off the Earth surface wasn't exactly warm. To be fair, both reasons were plausible…

Without even thinking, he removed his thick purple jacket and wrapped it around her. It fit around her frame perfectly, despite the fact that it was much too big, and she was certainly grateful for the added layer of warmth.

"Thanks." she whispered, pulling at the lapels and tightening its grip around her.

The Doctor smiled softly as she looked up at him towering over her. It took a few moments of silence that neither of them liked before the Doctor decided to speak.

"What are you doing up here?" he queried.

Clara bit her lip, only to gasp in pain as it was the exact same spot she had bitten before.

"I followed ya." she admitted after a moment.

She watched as his soft smile faded and a frown burrowed on his face.

"Why?" he enquired.

She sighed and smiled weakly. "Curiosity." she stated simply.

The Doctor sighed before momentarily looking away from her deep brown eyes, eyes which were filled with so much youth and innocence.

"Go home." he almost pleaded, "Just go home and carry on with your normal, beautiful, human life… Forget about me."

Clara frowned slightly. She could see he was desperate but she couldn't understand why. It wasn't like… Wait a minute, why did say 'human life'? What exactly did that imply? He looked human; he certainly didn't look like his ugly little friend, the 'easily confused' one…

"Why would I wanna do that?" she asked.

He sighed. "Because I'm asking." he replied, "Clara please, go home. Forget you ever met me... I'm nothing but trouble."

Clara smiled softly up at him. "That doesn't scare me." she guaranteed.

His eyes tightened, the sparkle lost within a swirl of anger which surfaced within a split second.

"It should." he scowled as he moved away, stopping before he reached the blue box but not turning back to face her.

Clara's curiosity piqued. She pushed herself to her feet and sighed before slowly walking closer.

"Why?" she questioned.

"Because I'm dangerous." he snapped back, turning his neck to meet her with a scowl which made her eyes widened a little.

Usually, seeing that expression on someone's face would make her run a mile, well, probably not but definitely make her stop while she was ahead. However the Doctor just wasn't that lucky…

"How?" she quizzed.

By that point she was right behind him and when he turned fully around, no matter how tall he was towering over her, she didn't feel intimidating, not one little bit.

For a moment he stared down at her, his dry green eyes enticing her to know more. He broke eye contact with her and looked down at his feet lost in the loose layers of the cloud.

"Clara, please…" he trailed off.

She gulped slightly and felt her heart shudder in her chest. If she didn't know any better, she'd have said he was close to tears.

"Doctor…?" she asked, cautious not to be too forceful.

He lifted his head and brought his eyes to meet hers. For the first time since they'd met, Clara saw him genuinely smile down at her. For the first time it was real and sincere.

"You never listen, do you?" he asked in a light-hearted tone.

Clara raised her eyebrow playfully. "Why would I listen to someone who's _nothin' but trouble?_" she questioned.

The Doctor's smile increased in size and his eyes softened. "Why?" he queried, deciding to play along.

Clara sighed. "Because I don't think that you are." she answered genuinely.

The Doctor shook his head slightly. "You don't know me." he told her.

Clara nodded in agreement. "No." she confirmed, "But I'd like to."

"No." he stated adamantly, "I don't want you to… I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you like how I've hurt everybody else."

"And ya don't want me to 'urt you." she put forward, "That's understandable."

The Doctor laughed slightly and he shook his head in a small state of disbelief.

"Who are you?" he enquired, "A ghost of my Christmas past come back to haunt me?"

Clara sighed. "Maybe I'm someone to remind ya that the world still exists beneath your cloud." she suggested, "And someone to keep ya company in the process…"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't need company." he promised, "I'm perfectly fine on my own."

Clara shook her head as she removed his jacket from around her body.

"D'ya know what Doctor?" she started as she handed the jacket back to him, "I think you're wrong."

He just stood there, in complete silence, as she turned away from him and began to head down the staircase back to the world below. He listened intensely until her echoing footsteps faded into nothingness. She was gone…

He sighed and was about to put his jacket back on when something fell away from it and hit the hard surface of the cloud. He blinked several times before crouching down and picking it up. It was a simple lump of fabric, a lump of soft red fabric: Clara's shawl. He'd have to return it to her… that meant he'd see her again.

A large part of him desperately didn't want that to happen, however, a small part of him did… and he had a strong feeling that the small part would win.

. . . . .

Bright sunbeams leaking in through the window were what greeted Clara as she awoke the next morning. She smiled as her eyes adjusted to the light, her mind constantly travelling back to the man she had met last night, or maybe it was just a dream. Surely it was just a dream… although, she hoped not.

Stepping out of the pub that morning was slightly bizarre. The night before, the entire street had been plastered in snow, _scary snow, _but there wasn't even a patch now.

"Look at that." she said to the landlord, Mr. Chilcott, who followed in her wake, "Must've thawed in the night."

By spinning slowly to examine the street, she failed to notice the sheer look of desperation in his eyes.

"I'm beggin' ya, Clara." he cried, "I'm on me knees…"

Clara smirked at his plea. The fact that he had given her the eye so many times over the last few months _certainly _wasn't the reason he wanted her to stay, right?

"Elsie's back this afternoon, and I was only helpin' out." she reminded him, "I got me own work to get back to."

Chilcott raised his eyebrow as he tossed the rags over his arm and leant against the door frame.

"What work?" he questioned, "Why won't ya ever tell us?"

She smirked once again and shook her head softly.

"You've never believe me." she guaranteed before blowing him a kiss and waving as she made her way over to her awaiting carriage.

She couldn't lie. She was sad to be leaving the pub; however, she was rather excited to be getting back to Darkover House. She couldn't wait to see the children again, especially in time for Christmas.

Inside the carriage, she pulled down the blind before retrieving her appropriate green dress from her Gladstone bag. If Captain Latimer ever saw her attire she wore when working at the pub, she certainly wouldn't have a job as a Governess, especially not with his children…

As the carriage containing Clara turned down the street, two figures sat underneath the tree in the park across the road sighed.

"I 'onestly thought she'd 'elp 'im." the one, Jenny, admitted to her Veiled wife.

Her wife, known to the public as the 'Veiled Detective', shook her head slightly.

"Apparently not, my dear." she stated.

"I sup'ose there's still time, ya know?" hinted Jenny.

Her wife frowned beneath the veil and turned to look down at her.

"For what exactly?" she queried.

"A Christmas miracle." answered Jenny.

Vastra laughed slightly and sighed. "Unfortunately my dear, this isn't a fairytale, this is real life." she pointed out, "Miracles happen as often as the universe makes bargains… never."


	12. 2x4 - One Word

Chapter 4: One Word

Taking a deep breath, Clara opened the door of the carriage and boldly stepped out. A small smile crept onto her face as the sight of Darkover House greeted her. To say that it impressed her was a massive understatement.

Watching her accent, Clara turned to look at the house maid standing between her and the door.

"Alice, how smart you look today." she complimented.

The maid raised her eyebrow slightly and did her best not to smile.

"The governess should enter by the back door." she reminded her, "Unless accompanied by the children."

Clara smirked slightly, stepping forward to allow the carriage to leave.

"And how are the children?" she queried, "Excited about tomorrow?"

Alice sighed to herself. "Francesca, same as ever." she informed her, "Digby says 'e missed ya every day… Captain Latimer wants to see ya."

"Of course." Clara concurred as she passed Alice.

However, she stopped suddenly and turned back to her.

"Everyday?" she attempted to confirm.

Alice smirked slightly. "Twice on Saturdays." she explained.

Clara's smile grew. "That's better." she commented.

With that, she began to continue on inside. At the door, her bag was removed from her possession by another house maid while her hat and shawl were taken away by a butler. She acknowledged them as she passed before heading down to the Captain's study.

Captain Latimer himself was a rather reserved person; Clara had noted that he often had difficulties talking to his children. She expected that was a major reason why he relied on her services so much. There weren't many times that he left his study, even when it came to evening meals.

"Captain Latimer." she greeted once she had entered the study.

"Ah. Miss Montague, you're back." he acknowledged.

Clara smiled as he remained stood adjacent to the fireplace, his eyes glued to some mural on the wall to her left.

"In time for Christmas." she stated, "Apologies for my brief absence. Family illness is so unpredictable… You wanted to see me?"

Captain Latimer, trying his best to avoid eye contact with her as much as he could, sighed before composing himself and pacing across the room.

"Francesca has been having nightmares." he reported.

"Young girls often do." Clara pointed out.

"Every night this week, she says." he informed her, "Won't tell me about them."

Clara stepped forward, watching her posture which to be fair, came as second nature. She'd been posing as 'Miss Montague' for far too long…

"Perhaps if you asked her in the right way, there's no one she'd rather tell." she told him.

The Captain, who was leaning on the mantelpiece, shook his head and searched his brains for an appropriate excuse.

"Children are not really my area of expertise…" he stated.

Clara sighed silently. _'Maybe if you more spent time with them, it would help…' _she thought. Why was it so hard for fathers to do that? Granted, her father had spent time with her, but not until he had ample encouragement off her mother… Men, who needed them?

"They are, however, your children." she put forward.

Completely avoiding eye contact with the correct young governess stood before him, Captain Latimer began to admire the words of intelligence which had just left her lips.

"You have, if I may say, a remarkable amount of wisdom in there matters for one so very pretty, Miss Montague…"

Clara smirked slightly as his words trailed off. She was not oblivious to the Captain's 'infatuation' with her. After all, she wasn't blind! However, apart from being almost double her age, he was her boss. That was one line she was never going to cross, not that she even wanted to either.

"Young!" corrected the Captain when he realised what he had said, "I mean…"

Clara smiled before beginning to turn to the door. "I'll see to the children now."

The children themselves were both outside running about in the garden, completely carefree. For a moment, Clara just stood in the doorway and watched them playing, completely oblivious to her presence. She'd always been a very protective person, it was always her job to look after people, or a person, and she wasn't sure which. It was strange, it was like her aim in life was to protect someone, but she didn't know who…

Stepping out into the light, she caught the immediate attention of Francesca, the older of the siblings.

"Miss Montague!" she cried, which was soon echoed by her brother.

After a hint from their beloved governess about their manners, the pair of them composed themselves before greeting her correctly and shaking her hand.

"Christmas Eve is the most thrilling day, don't you think?" Miss Montague began, "Now, what have you two been up to while I've been away?"

"I did seven drawings!" exclaimed Digby, "And we saw a dead cow!"

Clara's eyes widened slightly. "Well," she started, "How… exciting!"

Looking up at Clara with the biggest smile possible, he began to whisper a request only the three of them understood.

"Do your secret voice." he begged.

Smirking, Clara checked no-one else was around or watching them before leaning down to the children's level.

"'ello mates." she greeted, grateful for a moment to return to her normal voice.

Seeing the children laugh afterwards made her smile. It amazed her that something so normal to her was so alien to them. London, it was full of wonder…

. . . . .

After learning about Frannie's dreams and the danger of the ice in the pond, Clara had to admit she was worried. If it hadn't been for the Snowmen attacking her the night before, she wouldn't have been afraid, but she was…

After Digby's brilliant reminder of the Doctor, she found herself in the park, calling him and hoping he would just appear. He didn't. In fact, all that seemed to appear was a crowd of people quietly assuming that she was ill… mentally.

However, then came an ounce of hope in the form of a woman. She turned out to know of the Doctor and with her guidance; she ended up in the home of 'Madame Vastra' herself, more commonly known as The Veiled Detective.

"Do not attempt to escape or you will be obliterated!" the little potato alien, who she had met the night before, exclaimed, "May I take you coat?"

Despite the fact he was _alien, _he didn't scare her. To be fair, she found him rather amusing. No wonder the Doctor liked him.

Entering the conservatory of the home, a room plastered with exotic greenery, Clara found herself sat opposite another strange-looking woman, a woman with green scales and bright blue eyes.

"There are two refreshments in your world the colour of red wine." Vastra stated before picking up a goblet holding a red liquid, "This is **not** red wine."

Clara raised her eyebrow slightly before relaxing into her chair. Most people wouldn't believe it but she felt completely safe despite the fact she was in the company of two aliens.

"Madame Vastra will ask you questions. You will confine yourself to single word responses." Jenny explained, "One word only, do you understand?"

Clara sighed and decided the best idea was to do as she requested. She could always say exactly what she wanted to say afterwards…

"Why?" queried Clara.

"Truth is singular. Lies are words and words and words." she informed her before taking a sip of her not-red-wine-beverage; "You met the Doctor, didn't you?"

"Yes." Clara answered.

"And now you've come looking for him again." stated Vastra, "Why?"

Clara sighed momentarily for which Jenny assumed was her struggling to answer.

"Take ya time." Jenny stated, "One word only."

Clara nodded slightly. "Curiosity." she answered.

"About?" quizzed Vastra.

"Snow." replied Clara.

"And about him?" interrogated Vastra.

Clara nodded and smirked. "Yes." she whispered.

Vastra was intrigued by the young woman's attitude. If she didn't know any better, it was like she was talking about an old friend rather than a complete stranger.

Vastra shuffled slightly in her seat. "What do you want from him?" she enquired.

"Help." answered Clara.

"Why?" she continued to question.

Clara sighed. "Danger." she stated.

"Why would he help you?" Vastra queried.

Clara frowned slightly and looked at her like she was speaking another language.

"Kindness." she responded as if it should have been obvious.

Vastra looked down at the beverage in her lap. It took a few moments of silence between then before she began to speak.

"The Doctor is not kind." she explained.

Clara raised her eyebrow. Strange… he had been to her.

"No?" she asked.

"No." confirmed Vastra, "The Doctor doesn't help people. Not anyone… not ever. He stands above this world and doesn't interfere in the affairs of its inhabitants. He is not your salvation, nor your protector. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"

Clara raised her eyebrows lightly. "Words." she whispered, amazing both Vastra and Jenny.

"He was different once… a long time ago." Vastra confessed, "Kind? Yes. A hero, even… a saver of worlds… but he suffered losses which hurt him. Now he prefers isolation to the possibility of pain's return. Kindly choose a word to indicate your understanding of this.

Clara thought about it. There were many possibilities but there was only one she could use without shocking the daylights out of the people around her.

"Man." she replied.

Noticing Vastra and Jenny exchange glances, she smiled to herself. The entire conversation was shaping out to be better than she expected.

"We are the Doctor's friends. We assist him in his isolation but that does not mean we approve of it." she explained, "So… a test for you. Give me a message for the Doctor. Tell him all about the snow and what fresh danger you believe it presents, and above all, explain why he should help you… But do it in one word."

At that moment, Vastra probably expected that she would have been struggling with her 'test', and in a way she was. However, she was struggling to find a word, she was struggling to choose which word would be the best one given the circumstances.

"… You're thinking it is impossible that such a word exists, or that you could even find it." continued Vastra, "Let's see if the gods are with you."

Clara sighed, pulling herself up off the back of the chair and sitting up straight. With a small smile on her lips, she looked between the two women.

"May I ask something, Madame Vastra?" requested Clara.

Vastra nodded slightly, intrigued deeply by the woman. She didn't know what it was but there was something about her which interested her. There was just something about this Clara-person which didn't seem normal…

"If I can capture your personal attention with one single word, can you listen to my possibilities for the word to say to the Doctor?" she queried.

Vastra smirked and shook her head slightly. "I doubt anything you say will capture my _personal _attention." she put forward.

"Oh, really… _Silurian_?" she questioned, smirking when Vastra's face straightened.

"How… how do you know that?" she asked in a whisper.

Looking Vastra directly in the face, she sighed softly. "Have I got your attention, Madame Vastra?" she quizzed.

Vastra nodded slowly. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Clara." she answered, "Now, which one of these's words would best capture the Doctor's attention? I have many to choose from."

"Which are?" interrogated Vastra.

"Well, there's always _Rose_, the girl as pretty as the flower itself, especially in the Doctor's eyes. Then there's always _Martha_, but that just brings guilt, the same as _Donna_, and _River_…" she began.

During her speech, Vastra shared a look of sheer astonishment, and slight fear, with Jenny. How on earth did this woman know these names…? Who was she?!

"Of course there's also _Amelia_, or _Rory_, but that would bring him pain, especially at the moment, as you well know…" continued Clara, "There are also words which would help in my case, such as _Run_, or _Remember_… but he wouldn't understand in this context."

Clara looked down in her lap momentarily before looking up at Vastra once again.

"If I really think about it, there's only one word which helps in this situation since it will get his attention, and it also links to the danger outside…" she pointed out.

"Which is?" enquired Vastra.

Clara smiled slightly and shrugged her shoulders. "Pond…"


	13. 2x5 - The Doctor Is In

Chapter 5: The Doctor Is In

Clara tried to keep it professional as she made her way back to the children's room. After seeing the Doctor stood on the edge of the frozen pond, the pond which she was responsible to getting him to, she could feel her heart swelling in her chest. She seriously didn't know what it was about him, but he made her feel complete…

Tucking the children in, she couldn't help but notice the fear Francesca was trying to hide.

"Are you alright?" Clara questioned.

Sighing, Francesca brushed her hair out of her face.

"Am I going to have the nightmare tonight?" she asked.

Clara sighed before straightening up. "Definitely not." she answered.

"How do you know?" Francesca queried.

Clara smiled slightly. "Because someone's coming to help." she promised.

Francesca's eyes lit up. "Who?" she enquired.

Clara raised her eyebrow slightly before she began to fold one of Digby's vestments.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." she explained.

Francesca laughed a little. "Is it one of your stories?" she quizzed, "Your definitely true ones?"

"Ha!" Clara scoffed, "All my stories are true."

Digby, who was sat on the same bed as his sister raised his eyebrows.

"Like how you were born behind the clock face of Big Ben?" he recalled.

"Accounting for my acute sense of time." Clara put forward.

"And you invented fish." Francesca stated.

"Because I dislike swimming alone." Clara countermanded.

Digby smiled as he looked up at her. "So what's this one?" he questioned.

Clara stopped in her tracks, her smile beaming away as she thought about the man who she was going to see very soon. After placing Digby's vestment onto his bed, she leant down closer to the children.

"There's a man… called _the Doctor_." she began, "He lives on a cloud in the sky, and all he does, all day every day, is to stop all the children in the world ever having bad dreams."

Francesca smiled slightly. "I've been having bad dreams." she said aloud.

Clara nodded. "He's been on holiday." she explained, "But I am confident he has now returned to work. And as a matter of fact, he's right here… aren't you Doctor?"

Turning to the door, the three of them were startled as a woman entered the room. However, it wasn't just any woman; it was the children's old governess… made of ice!

"Bloomin' hell!" Clara cried as the children screamed.

Completely forgetting her accent, Clara ushered the children behind her as the governess approached screeching: "The children have been very naughty!"

"Get back!" Clara ordered it, "Now! _Quickly!_"

Digby momentarily looked up at his beloved governess. "You're doing your other voice!"

"Yes love." answered Clara, not taking her eyes of the Ice Woman, "Did ya notice?"

"Naughty, naughty children!" the Governess continued to exclaim, closing the distance between them all.

"Run!" demanded Clara, making sure the children were safe before attempting to escape herself.

Their escape into the schoolroom was short-lived as the Governess broke through the door. That was when Clara began to get extremely worried. They were in danger, _fatal _danger, and they had no chance of escape… God, where was he?! Where was he when she needed him?!

"What about the man?" Digby questioned, his fear making him shake as she did her best to protect him and his sister, "You said the man was here, the cloud man!"

Clara gulped. "Well, 'e's not, is he?"

Digby turned back to look at the Ice Governess. "Where's the Doctor?!" he cried.

"I don't know!" Clara answered.

That was when she heard it… the best voice in all of creation, saying the words that he rarely ever got to say.

"Doctor? Doctor?" he repeated, "Doctor who?"

Seeing the Punch puppet he was talking through soon shatter the Ice Governess with his screwdriver, Clara gasped sharply as the ice shot at them.

"Well, thank God for that…" she whispered, earning a quick smile off the Doctor, one he immediately tried to hide as he began to scan the remains of the Ice Woman.

"Where did she go?" queried a worried Francesca, "Will she come back?"

The Doctor sighed, doing his best to avoid looking at Clara and the children. He didn't want to do this, he didn't want to let people in…

"No, don't worry." he assured her, "She's currently draining through your carpet."

Clara smiled softly once he finally turned to face her.

"New setting. Anti-freeze." he explained, referring to the screwdriver, "And you're very welcome, by the way."

"I'm very grateful." she confirmed, "I knew you'd come."

That was when his face changed, the common frown making yet another re-appearance. Sighing with a small amount of frustration, she tried to hide her annoyance. After everything, he was right back at square one…

"No, you didn't, because…" he began.

"Yes I did." Clara interrupted, "You wouldn't let anythin' hurt me."

The Doctor's frown only intensified. "And what makes _you_ so special?" he quizzed, his tone much harsher than he had intended.

Clara sighed softly, hoping that that particular comment wouldn't show him just how much that hurt to hear him say that.

"Nothin'…" she answered, "I just knew you'd help me…"

"You…?" he whispered, "You… Who are you?!"

Clara was slightly taken aback by his outburst but she did expect it… After all, he was still upset about loosing the Ponds.

She shook her head slightly. "You'll know one day…" she whispered.

"What does that mean?" he questioned, his anger slowly fading to a point where he couldn't manage to speak above a whisper.

By that point, she was literally inches in front of him and within seconds, she raised her hands up to the scarf around his neck and slowly removed it. Smiling once it was off, the Doctor frowned.

"What?" he questioned.

Looking up at him then back down to his neck, Clara reached up and straightened the one thing which made him the Doctor: his bowtie.

"Old habits…" she whispered, a smile curling on her lips.

From where they were stood, all the Doctor had to do to look in the mirror was turn his head. Spotting his bowtie, he smiled softly.

"I…" he stuttered, "I didn't know I'd put it on…"

Slowly moving away from Clara and walking towards the mirror, he examined the bow and re-straightened it himself, something he hadn't done for a long, long time.

Clara smiled at the action but her attention soon turned to the fact that the room was growing very cold.

"It's cooler." she stated.

The Doctor nodded slightly, not understanding exactly what it was she was saying.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" he attempted to confirm, smiling at his reflection in the mirror, "It is very cool… Bow ties are cool."

"No, the room." Clara pointed out, "The room's gettin' colder."

A sudden gasp from the children confirmed to the pair of them exactly what was happening…

Snapping back into reality and realising the Ice Governess couldn't be destroyed like she had been the first time, the Doctor grabbed both of the children's hand's.

"Run!" he ordered.

. . . . .

It didn't take long for the old Doctor to slowly begin to surface in him. After taking refuge in Captain Latimer's study once Vastra, Jenny and Strax had arrived on the scene, the Doctor began to figure out what he could with the information known.

At that moment, the Ice Governess was safely contained but with Simeon and the Snowmen outside the house, it wasn't exactly the Christmas he'd ordered…

Stepping outside the study after hearing the doorbell ring, the Doctor was slightly annoyed that Clara disobeyed and followed. However, he liked that. He really shouldn't have but he did.

"Oi!" he cried, "I told you to stay in there."

"Oh." Clara pretended to realise, "I didn't listen."

Raising his eyebrow, the Doctor closed the distance between them. She was definitely something special, and not just in one way… Unknown to her, the Doctor had heard about her conversation with Vastra, the one where she mentioned all of his past companions. Even though he had no idea how she could know them, he was allowing himself to be intrigued by her. That was something he really wished he didn't like… but he really couldn't help it…

"You do that a lot." he pointed out.

"That's why you like me." she teased.

"Who said I like you?" he questioned.

Within a split second, she did something he definitely hadn't seen coming. Clamping her hands around his neck, she pulled him down to her. As their lips touched, he felt a spark fly through his body. Humans would have classed it as 'electric'… but then again, he wasn't human.

Her warmth ran through his body to the point where he struggled to breath. Struggling against her, his arms flailing all over the place, he was completely overwhelmed by the intensity of what he was feeling at that moment.

It came to an end not long after and he couldn't disguise the shock that had hit him. With her cute little smile beaming up at him and the sparkle in her eyes, he felt his two hearts hammer in a way they hadn't for a long time.

"I think you just did." she answered.

"You kissed me!" he objected.

"You blushed." she argued, her voice whispering in rather a seductive manner.

He was left completely speechless. She was right. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the words to say.

"Oh, shut up!" she cried as he straightened his bow tie and returning back to business.

Trying to ignore the feeling starting to flood his body, the Doctor continued with his plan and started by grabbing an umbrella. His aim was to get the Governess away from the Snowmen and by doing that, he had to get back to the TARDIS.

Somehow, Clara managed to end up running with him and even though he tried to show that it was a problem, he knew, like he'd always known, she was stuck with him now.

When they reached the roof, he quickly exited the house via the window and ended up on it.

"Come on, quickly!" he stated, stopping when he noticed that Clara had stopped, "What are you doing?"

"My bustle is stuck." she answered.

In all the commotion of pulling her through, the Doctor soon lost his balance and ended up with Clara on top of him. Gasping slightly, Clara looked very apologetic as she lay there.

Without even thinking, the Doctor began to speak.

"You're going to have to take those clothes off." he told her.

Gasping, Clara slowly pushed herself up out of his face. It was only then that the Doctor realised what he had said, his eyes widening slightly at the thought.

"I didn't mean…" he began.

"I know." Clara confirmed, "I understand, I do."

"Good." stated the Doctor.

"Now, what's the plan?" she questioned.

"Who said I've got a plan?" he queried.

"Course you've got a plan. You took that." she responded, referring to the umbrella.

"Maybe I'm an idiot." the Doctor suggested as he and Clara clambered back up to their feet.

"You're not." argued Clara, "You're clever. Really clever."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow slightly, a smile forming on his face.

"Are you?" he asked, throwing the umbrella to her, "If I've got a plan, what is it? You tell me."

Attempting to ignore the Governess approaching them, Clara scoffed slightly.

"Is this a test?" she enquired.

"Yes." the Doctor replied simply.

"What will it do to us?" Clara questioned.

"Kill us." he answered, as the Governess faded into snow, her way of getting through the window, "So, come on then. Plan. Do I have one?"

Clara raised her eyebrow momentarily. "Oh, I know what your plan is." she explained, "I knew straight away."

"No, you didn't." he stated.

"Course I did." argued Clara.

"Show me." the Doctor ordered.

"Why should I?" she challenged.

"Because we'll be dead in under thirty seconds." the Doctor pointed out, "Do I have a plan?"

Allowing his smile to expand as she began to explain exactly what he knew, the Doctor couldn't help but wonder exactly what, or rather _who, _she was. The way she thought about things, the way she acted with him… it was like nothing he could even imagine. No human seemed to have the knowledge she possessed so openly and then there was the fact that she seemed to know him… How?

Reaching with the umbrella, Clara pulled down the ladder that was connected to the Doctor's cloud.

"After you." she told him.

Grinning like an idiot, the Doctor shook his head. "After you."

Clara scoffed. "After you." she insisted, "I'm wearing a dress. Eyes front, soldier!"

The Doctor was about to climb up the stairs when his ears picked up something, mainly the way she said 'solider'… He'd heard that before.

Turning to face her, he was met with a deep frown. "What ya doin'?!" she cried, "Get up!"

Noticing her features for the first time, he linked her back to a woman he had met before.

"Soldier…" he repeated, "That was you… You were the one singing that song in the alleyway…"

Clara frowned slightly before looking back at the Governess who was almost fully formed.

"Can we get outta 'ere before we start talkin'?" she questioned.

Snapping back to see the current danger, the Doctor nodded.

"Right…" he muttered, climbing the ladder.

That was when Clara turned to face the fully formed Ice Governess on the other side of the roof.

"I understand you're the previous Governess." she told it, "However, I regret to inform you that the position is now taken… Goodnight."

And with a swift tap of the ladder, it lifted her up to the Doctor and away from the Governess.


	14. 2x6 - Welcome to My World

Chapter 6: Welcome to My World

Rushing up the staircase with the Ice Governess close on their tails, the Doctor and Clara ran as fast as they could. It didn't take long to reach the top and once they had, the Doctor blocked off the cloud. For now, they were safe.

Once Clara's breath had normalised, she took the opportunity to look up at the Doctor. He was smiling softly down at her but the way he was looking at her made her frown. It was like he was looking into her, not at her.

"What?" she asked.

Shaking his head slightly, he sighed.

"Doctor, talk to me." she pleaded.

He shook his head once again. "Its nothing." he stated.

"Fine." Clara shrugged, moving further away from the edge, "So, you actually live up here on a cloud, in a box?"

"I have done for a long time now." the Doctor explained, making his way over to the 'box'.

"Blimey, ya really know how to sulk, don't ya?" she teased.

"I'm not sulking." the Doctor explained.

"You live in a box!" she exclaimed.

"That's no more a box than you are a governess." he told her, unlocking the door and heading inside.

Now, that crossed the like. What was it with men, thinking they were always better than women?

"Oh, spoken like a typical man." she ranted, "You know, you're the same as all the rest. _Sweet little Clara,_ works at the Rose and Crown… ideas above her station. Well, for your information, I'm not _sweet_ on the inside, and I'm certainly not…"

Her words were suddenly cut off as the Doctor lit up the inside of the TARDIS for the first time, allowing her to see the miraculous inside she hadn't seen before.

"…Little…" Clara finished, the Doctor turning to face her with a broad, and very proud, smile.

"It's called the TARDIS. It can travel anywhere in time and space… and its mine." he explained.

Clara's eyes couldn't stop looking around the room. It was impossible… just like him.

"But it's…" she attempted to say, "Look at it… it's…"

"Go on, say it." the Doctor told her, "Most people do."

Dashing outside, Clara looked around the outer shell. She returned moments later, her smile beginning to twitch at the corner of her lips.

"It's smaller on the outside." she said in awe.

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Okay, that is a first." he muttered.

"Is it magic?" she asked curiously, circling the console, "Is it a machine?"

The Doctor smiled slightly. "It's a ship." he explained, "Best ship in the universe!"

Clara grinned as she looked up from the console and over at the Doctor.

"What's it called again?" she queried.

"The TARDIS." he answered, "T-A-R-D-I-S."

She nodded slightly. "And what's it stand for?" she questioned.

The Doctor folded his arms and smiled once again.

"Time and Relative Dimensions in Space." he answered.

Clara's eyes lit up when she realised exactly what that meant.

"Time?" she repeated, "It can travel in time?"

The Doctor laughed a little. "Yes." he answered simply, "I did say that earlier."

Smirking as she closed the distance between them, Clara desperately tried to ignore her burning desire to kiss him once again. What she wouldn't have given to feel his lips against hers again.

She seriously didn't understand what was wrong with her. Never before had any man she'd ever known made her feel the way the Doctor did. To coin a phrase, he made her feel week at the knees, not that she'd ever admit that to anyone…

"Prove it." she challenged.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow. "Why should I?" he quizzed.

Clara smirked. "So I know I ain't mad." she stated matter-of-factly, "Come on, Chin Boy."

Dashing around the console, Clara failed to notice the Doctor's face drop, loosing his smile in the process.

The Doctor gulped as he remembered back to the first time he had been designated as that particular nickname. Biting his lip as Clara giddily skipped around the console; he couldn't help but notice the similar sounding noises which Clara seemed to share with the original owner of that nickname. The giggle, the soft sighs, both Clara and Oswin seemed to share those sounds… but Oswin was dead. There was no way she could be connected to Clara, right?

"_Chin Boy_?" he queried.

Clara turned to meet his gaze, her smile beaming away.

"Seriously, that thing's deadly." she teased, "But anyway, put ya money where ya mouth is. I need to know if what ya say is true or whether you're just a madman in a box… or if it's me who's mad… One of us is definitely mad…"

The Doctor immediately leant down to her level, silencing her in a split second as their eyes met, hers full of innocence and his full of something which made her body tense… Whatever he was about to say or do, it was serious.

"Now, you listen to me very carefully." the Doctor demanded, "Of all the things you need to know about me, this is by far the most important."

Clara nodded slightly, her front teeth slowly digging into her bottom lip.

Smiling suddenly and cutting through the tension which had just fell upon them, the Doctor raised his eyebrows momentarily.

"I am certainly a madman in a box." he finished.

Joining him with an equal smile, Clara did her absolute best to suppress a laugh.

"Are you sure you can handle that?" he asked.

"Absolutely." she guaranteed him, "Now, come on!"

Laughing at her building apprehension, the Doctor nodded down at her before pulling down the two large levers in front of him, making the TARDIS shudder as it ripped away from the cloud in Victorian London and into the Time Vortex.

. . . . .

Following in the Doctor's wake but keeping a good metre or two behind him as he headed over to the door, Clara wondered if he was about to deliver on what he had promised. Surely… surely it couldn't be real, or could it?

Grabbing the door handle, the Doctor undid the lock but didn't push the door, he just left it ajar. Smiling as he turned to face her, his smile increased when their eyes met.

"Go on then." he instructed.

Sighing deeply, Clara cautiously took alone step forward.

"Promise ya ain't pullin' me leg?" she enquired.

"I promise." he assured her.

Nodding softly, Clara felt her body quiver. The moment of truth had come. Was she about to see something beyond her wildest imagination or had she just befriended a man who should have been locked up in a looney bin?

Hand trembling, she reached for the door, noticeably nervous about pulling it open.

"It won't bite." the Doctor promised.

Taking one last glance up at him, Clara smiled slightly before finally pulling the door open. What greeted her took her breath away…

The Doctor grinned at the look of sheer amazement plastered across her delicate features.

"B… But t-that's impossible…" she breathed after a moment.

"Not to me…" he smiled, "Welcome to my world."

Her eyes couldn't stop dashing frantically across everything in her vision. From where she was stood, she could see so many stars, she'd never be able to count them all, certainly not in her lifetime. The colours of what looked like clouds dazzled the black sky behind, making it appear to Clara like one of Digby's art palette.

"Forget what I said before…" she whispered, "It's not smaller on the outside… it's much, much bigger…"

Grinning as he stepped out onto a metal platform which the TARDIS had landed on, he extended his hand out to her.

The Doctor expected her to be cautious, especially since she had been when opening the TARDIS door, but he was indeed wrong. The way she gripped his hand, how tightly and sharply, it made his already gigantic smile increase. He didn't know what it was about her, but she had a level of control over him which he didn't understand, but definitely liked.

Stepping out onto the platform, Clara couldn't stop looking over all the star formations. It was such a wonderful sight, all the colours of the nebulas twisting around on another, creating glittered spirals of colour against the black of space.

"So, do you like it?" the Doctor quizzed.

Still awestruck, Clara just nodded.

"How... how long can we stay 'ere?" she enquired.

"As long as you want." he promised, "The glory of a time machine means 5 minutes could be as long as you want."

Clara looked at him, her soft, delicate smile made her look as though she had been handmade by the Gods. Why did he even think like that? She was human... but he was honest, he really didn't care.

"Why 'ere?" she asked, snapping the Doctor away from his trail if thought.

"I'm sorry?" he attempted to confirm.

"Why 'ere?" she repeated, "You've 'ad all of space and time to choose from, so why'd ya choose 'ere?"

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders lightly. "You like stars." he replied simply, "So I thought I'd show them to you."

Clara frowned suddenly, her eyes widening momentarily.

"'ow... 'ow d'ya know I like stars?" she quizzed, "I've never told ya that... I've never told anyone that."

The Doctor smiled softly, sighing contently. "It's just something about you... Clara."

Sighing as his simple words seemed to easily appease her, Clara grabbed the top layers of her skirt in order to make it easier for her to move as she went back to overlooking the sight before her.

It was a few moments of pure silence before the Doctor noticed something wasn't right with the Victorian woman stood next to him. She was crying...

"What's wrong?" he questioned, watching a tear roll down her face, capturing the colours of the star formation on it's fall.

"I 'ave to go back..." she whispered.

"You don't have too." he promised, "Not if you don't want to."

Clara smiled sadly, shaking her head slightly, making sure not to face him properly.

"I do..." she explained, "And I ain't ever gonna see any of this again."

"You know that you can come with me... If you want to, that is." he offered.

Clara felt her eyes water once again. _She couldn't... she knew that._

"I'd love that." she told him, "But I can't... I'll never be able to go with ya."

The Doctor was puzzled. Why exactly did she think that, especially after he had just offered? Didn't that offer in itself confirm that she was welcome to come with him?

"Why?" he queried.

Bringing herself around to face him, she shook her head softly.

"I can't say." she told him, "It has to be... _lived_."

The Doctor was frowning at that point and he certainly had noticed how her voice had broke after her use of the word 'lived'. What exactly was going on? What did she know that he didn't?

He nodded softly, slowly embracing her in a hug. Despite the face he hardly knew her, he could see how much something was hurting her and he didn't like it.

"Please don't ask me..." she begged, almost at the point of sobbing. God knows how she was managing to hold herself together.

"I won't." he told her, "I promise."

She nodded softly, enjoying their embrace. For some reason, it felt extremely familiar...

"Thank you." she whispered, making him look down at her, "Thanks for showin' me the stars, Chin Boy."

_Rescue me Chin Boy, and show me the stars..._

Clara pulled away a moment later and began to head back to the TARDIS at her own accord. However, the Doctor just remained stuck in the exact same spot. Not only was his mind racing, his heart was too... _Oswin_... they had been Oswin's words...

By then Clara had disappeared into his box, leaving him alone with his thoughts... dangerous. Shaking his head in disbelief, he swallowed in a large amount of air.

What was she? Or more important, what was she?

* * *

**Hey guys**

**I apologise enormously for my lack in communication. Between an array of injury, illness, coursework, writer's block and my other story, Watch Us Run (worth a read if you like 11/Clara pairing, Whouffle etc.), this hasn't been easy to keep updated for as much as I'd hoped. **

**I can't promise this will be regularly updated until the end of Watch Us Run, which won't be all that much longer, but I will do my very best to do it more often.**

**Thanks for sticking by me, and your patience.**

**xxxdolphinmelodyxxx**


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